


Affairs of Royalty

by wubwubnparmaham



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha Liam, Alpha Zayn, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bottom Louis, Breeding, Castles, Coronation, FUCK, Gender Inequality, Happy Ending, Kidnapping, Knotting, Knotting Dildos, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Morning Sickness, Mpreg, Omega Louis, Omega Niall, Prince Harry Styles, Revolution, Riots, Royal Harry, Royalty, Social Justice, Soul Bond, Top Harry, Werewolf, barely, crowns, last kidnapping for a while i swear, watchdog Zayn, whole shebang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-28 06:07:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 68,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8434600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wubwubnparmaham/pseuds/wubwubnparmaham
Summary: “Shh! Do you smell that?” Niall asked suddenly, Louis shutting up to taste the air. “That’s stronger than I remem—”“—Holy shit,” Louis breathed, almost getting high from the pheromones that were evidently walking down the hallway.“I’m not ready,” Niall whined.The Omegas sunk down into their chairs in trepidation, and they simultaneously noticed there was definitely more than one Alpha nearing the room, but before they could even mention it, the Alphas strode into the class and practically stole both of their souls.  ~Or~Being a senior in high school is hard enough.Being one of the only two Omegas in a fully human high school is even worse.Add two secretly royal Alphas from England into the mix...and it's impossible.





	1. Harley and Zander

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished! I give you... Fairytale Larry a/b/o.
> 
> Be patient with me because I'm still editing as I go, but you know me, I'll get it out sooner than most.

“I saw the new kid today!” Niall whisper-screamed to Louis as he flew into his seat.

Niall and Louis were the absolute best of friends that could ever potentially exist. More so than any other two beings on this planet could ever hope to be. Just the fact that they existed to each other was enough, but they’d come to find they were perfectly compatible in almost every way.

As soon as they’d started high school, they’d found each other on the first day. It was a shock to see someone of their own species in such a human-inhabited school, so they’d ran to each other and fiercely hugged until the bell rang, and then a while after that. Now fours year later, they were seniors—and the hugs hadn’t stopped.

What humans didn’t know is that there’s a human-like species of creatures living among them, working at their jobs, going to their schools, shopping at their malls, and so on. This hidden kind was referred to as many things in the past by humans who thought they’d figured it out. Werewolves, Skin-changers, Shape-shifters, Lycanthropes, Susi, and Louis’ personal favourite, monsters; but truth be told, all they were is wolves in human form, who can fit in perfectly with society, and can still turn whenever they want to. Full moon was a crock pot of bullshit, and Louis could bathe in silver and he’d be just fine.

That’s really all there was to it, although there are two distinctly separate kinds of wolves. Alphas and Omegas. Alphas were the dominant ones to say the _very_ least, and it was hard for Omegas to exist without them. It would be impossible actually, considering Omegas can’t breed together. But likewise, Alphas would be hard-pressed to keep their gender alive because they are unable to conceive. So both counterparts needed each other, and they _wanted_ each other more than anything, so there were no complaints from either side.

“He’s an Alpha,” Niall added excitedly, Louis almost swallowing his gum as a result.

“A WHAT!?” he yelled, incidentally just as their science teacher had quieted the room.

“Quiet!” the teacher barked at them, shaking his head and returning to the board to write today’s outline. “Always with you two,” he muttered under his breath.

“Sorry, Mr. Taylor,” Louis said tonelessly before turning back to Niall and continuing their conversation in a less distracting manner. “Are you serious?” he mouthed to his Omega friend.

Niall nodded his head and glanced at the teacher to be sure they wouldn’t be reprimanded again, and leaned in closer to Louis at their two-person table.

“He’s supposed to be in _this_ class,” he said nervously.

Louis thankfully kept from shouting again, but he regarded the Omega with a hint of suspicion. “How do you know that?” he asked.

Niall shrugged and got his supplies out, trying to look busy and diligent. “I overheard his name in the office and snuck into Mrs. Bandy’s room to use her computer when she went to the copy machine. I didn’t have much time to try and find his name so I just checked our class with my fingers crossed…and I’m pretty sure it’s him.”

“What’s his name?” Louis inquired, quickly shoving his nose in his binder when he caught Mr. Taylor whipping around to glare at them.

“Harley,” Niall whispered when it was safe. “He’s so fucking beautiful, I’m gonna lose my mind.”

“Aren’t you seeing that college Alpha, Liam?” Louis chastised.

“It’s…not official,” Niall stuttered, guilt written all over his face.

“Niall,” Louis deadpanned, “If he’s courting you, then it’s official.”

“I just feel like something’s missing. We’re more like friends, anyway,” Niall defended.

“How can you be so greedy, Niall?” Louis scolded fondly, feeling sorry for the poor Alpha that had his sights set on the insatiable Omega.

“Shh! Do you smell that?” Niall asked suddenly, Louis shutting up to taste the air. “That’s stronger than I remem—”

“—Holy shit,” Louis breathed, almost getting high from the pheromones that were evidently walking down the hallway.

“I’m not ready,” Niall whined.

The Omegas sunk down into their chairs in trepidation, and they simultaneously noticed there was definitely more than one Alpha nearing the room, but before they could even mention it, the Alphas strode into the class and practically stole both of their souls.  

One was the very definition of a tumblr grunge aesthetic post, with tight jeans and black everything, save for the complementary pair of timberland boots on his feet. He had a glorious set of earrings climbing up the side of his left ear and a hypnotically stony expression on his sculpted face. Not to mention this one piece of hair hanging down the front of his face that could probably end world hunger.

The other God was much less angsty in appearance, but certainly well dressed and probably rich as all hell. He had curly brown hair that reached just past his shoulders, and he was confined in ripped black jeans, with a dark maroon jumper that even his tall stature was swimming in. Additionally, he was wearing these gorgeously sleek boots, and many exquisite rings adorned his fingers like they were just a natural extension of his hands. His face was powerful in its features, but it had soft aspects to it that just…it just…

The Alphas’ nostrils flared and their eyes instantly flew to the Omegas in the back of the room, and unfortunately that was something Niall just couldn’t handle.

The blonde Omega practically convulsed and flew right out of his chair, dropping to his knees on the dirty floor of the classroom and bending down into a worshiping and reverent position; the ultimate display of respect for Alpha dominants.

The class caught the unnecessarily loud action, and Louis hastily leaned over to drag the Omega back up by his collar before their fellow students could figure out Niall was bowing down to the new kids. That would likely raise questions the Omegas just couldn’t answer.

The black-haired Alpha smirked almost imperceptibly and turned his attention to Mr. Taylor, who was trying to hand them a collection of curriculums and syllabi. The other Alpha was still gazing at Louis, but the Omega didn’t realize it because he was preoccupied with trying to keep his friend in one solid piece.

Niall thankfully rose up without too big of a fight, probably only because of their environment, but he was still bending in half with his back under the table.

“Would you get up?” Louis hissed, smacking Niall in the shoulder repeatedly.

“They’re so powerful,” Niall contended, taking a glance behind them and stiffening. “Louis, the only empty table is behind us.”

Louis checked to make sure he was right, and he froze when he realized that was indeed the only place for them to go. He wasn’t ready either…

“Okay, class this is…Harley? Yeah, Harley, and…Zander. Yeah. Harley and Zander. They’re here from England, so give them a good and welcoming American experience, alright?” Mr. Taylor pitifully announced, motioning to the back table for them to take a seat in. “If you would.”

Harry nodded his head appreciatively and took long strides to the empty table with Zayn trailing close behind him. He didn’t look at the gaping-mouthed Omega until he only had a second left to make eye contact, and he allowed himself to take a quick gander at the staggering beauty shivering in his chair.

The Alpha got a good view of fearfully wide and strikingly blue eyes, but he made no show on his face to reveal just how taken he was by the boy’s magnificence...and then before he knew it, he had passed the boy completely and their intense gazes were forced to break.

Zayn meanwhile had been admiring the other Omega that was peering over his desk like a gopher, big blue eyes welling with tears as he neared hyperventilating. Zayn quickly looked away from the orbs before he caused a distress, and sped up his gait to get out of the Omega’s line of sight and take a seat next to Harry.

Not seeing the Alphas anymore did nothing to calm the Omegas, because now they were both vigilantly hyper aware that every move and sound they made would be seen and heard by the seraphic counterparts of their species _directly behind them_. In case you forgot where they were.

Mr. Taylor began roll call now that he knew everyone was here, and it went along smoothly until he got to the first Omega. “Niall?” he called without looking up from his paper, waiting for the ‘here’ that would confirm his presence.

Technically speaking, Mr. Taylor already knew Niall was here, but it was such an ingrained system to call someone and have them answer before he put an ‘x’ next to their name.

Louis broke free from his petrified and frozen state to elbow Niall in the arm and clear his throat at the unresponsive Omega.

Niall still wouldn’t move, and Mr. Taylor had apparently had enough of the silence. “I know you’re here, Niall,” he said in annoyance, looking up from the roster to glare at the boy.

Louis raised Niall’s sweaty hand up and the Omega finally snapped out of it, recognition and embarrassment taking over his previously catatonic expression. The boy quickly straightened up from his turtle position and coughed to get his voice working. “Here,” he rasped, receiving the quizzical looks of their fellow classmates.

“...Okay,” Mr. Taylor sighed, wholly disinclined to dive into the leading cause of Niall’s oddities, and continuing his normally smooth pace of roll call.

There was only a small hiccup when the teacher got to Louis because the Omega could only raise a shaky hand, but he somehow managed a chirp when he dumbly realized Mr. Taylor wasn’t looking.

“Mmmhm,” Louis forcefully whined, the class once again turning to look at him in confusion, probably all thinking ‘what the fuck is wrong with those two’ in their ignorant and judgmental heads.

Mr. Taylor rolled his eyes and jumped down the rest of the names, tossing the paper to the side when he was done and diving into the day’s lesson. Unfortunately, the education on insert-scientific-topic-here was completely lost to the Omegas, whom could spare no regards on anything other than their superiors’ locations.

The class dragged on like a golf match while the Omegas suffered in an endless vortex of the Hawthorne Effect; a term which Louis had learned in Sociology that meant the change in behavior someone is portraying when and because they know they’re being watched. Applicable.  

Louis and Niall knew the Alphas probably weren’t even looking, alternatively doing their classwork like the perfect British Alphas they were, but the knowledge that they _might_ be at any given point was crippling.

 

~~~

 

Harry and Zayn were truthfully trying to control themselves in the mind-numbing aroma of the little submissives’ potent scents. They knew they had to be gentle and cautious about approaching these Omegas if they chose to because the beauties were adorably skittish and jumpy, so cornering them could result in a drop...which they obviously didn’t want to cause in a school.

Harry was halfway through a detailed fantasy of holding the one called Louis against him as he thrust into his short-heighted and tastefully thick body. Just as his imagination was getting good, Zayn snapped his fingers—probably for the fifth time—to get his attention.

Harry tore his eyes away from the deliciously tempting and unmarked neck of the Omega and fiercely glared at Zayn for interrupting his satisfying daydream of him and Louis locked together, lying on a bed of flower petals.

“They’re perfect,” Zayn mouthed inaudibly, Harry forgetting his irritation and nodding his agreement, grinning as he tore a piece of paper out of his notebook to hastily scribble a note.

_I want Louis. Louis is mine. You got that?_

Zayn sighed in relief at the note and added his little contribution, pushing it back carefully so they wouldn’t be subject to the teacher’s unwanted reprimands.

_Good, cuz you know how I feel about blondes._

Harry smirked and scrunched up the note, putting it in his pocket and genuinely listening to rest of the lesson before the class ended without him catching a single word of it.

 

~~~

 

In their stress, the Omegas’ pheromones were growing more intense by the second, likely in overload from the intolerable proximity to two members of their kind’s authority. Louis was fervidly relieved that him and Niall were on their suppressants, because otherwise they would surely be sitting in puddles of their slick.

The Omegas could tell their bodies wanted to do all _kinds_ of things with every inhale of Alpha they took, but their trusty pills prevented any blatantly non-human reactions to occur. The submissives were also actively fighting the urge to shift into their wolves and submit in the most natural manner, and poor Niall almost lost his battle.

Louis flew sideways to clamp a hand over his friend’s mouth and mercilessly kick him in the legs until he came all the way back. The susceptible blonde Omega had begun quietly rumbling from his chest, and if left unchecked, it would have morphed into his full wolf throat and an obviously canine whine would have inevitably spilled out.

Niall blinked rapidly and shook his head, swallowing thickly and shifting his nature back to human as best he could. There were a few choked and gurgled coughs as his throat grew its voice box back, along with a few breathless gasps, but thankfully the bell rang to conclude the class, and its blaring sound successfully drowned out the last snarly hack.

The Omegas packed their stuff as fast as they could to run away from these dastardly phenomenal Alphas, but they formidably realized how disrespectful it was to not let the dominants go first, so they sunk down in their seats to wait their turn.

The Alphas were ironically doing the exact same thing, and when they realized the submissives weren’t moving, Harry leaned over his desk to get his lips as close to the polite Omega’s ear as he could reach. “After you,” he silkily murmured.

Louis instantly tensed from the alluring and _British_ tone of the Alpha’s voice, and he practically sprouted wings to fly out of the room, still frozen Niall be _damned_. He flattened himself against the outside wall and waited for the blonde to emerge so they could fretfully flee together.

Inside, Zayn followed Harry’s example and spoke to the remaining Omega, remembering to keep a harmless distance. He wasn’t sure this particular wolf would handle the closeness as well as Harry’s had, considering he could barely speak and was shaking like water drops on a subwoofer. “Follow your friend, Niall,” he said, going for a more commanding tone because if he didn’t, Niall probably wouldn’t find the strength to do it on his own.

The blonde scurried out of his desk and sprinted outside, getting caught on the sleeve by the panicking Louis, and running as one to their top floor bathroom that nobody ever infiltrates so they could have a chaotic meltdown together in peace.

Mr. Taylor had his headphones on and was lost to the world in a mad game of Minesweeper, so the Alphas knew they could wait inside unnoticed until they were positive the Omegas had gotten a safe distance away. After thirty seconds, they peeked their heads out the doorway and scoped around the crowded halls. No Omegas were in sight, so they strode out of the room and chuckled at each other in acknowledgement of all the unexpected events they’d just experienced.

“‘Fink I’m gonna like this place,” Zayn noted in his thick Northener accent as he raised his arms up to lock his fingers behind his head.

“Yeah,” Harry distractedly agreed, still lost in thoughts of the beautiful Louis. “I already do.”


	2. Temporary Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really should have made this into two chapters.

“He—was so—perfect,” Niall panted from his fetal position on the bathroom floor. Luckily not a soul used this facility, so it was decently clean. Any other case and Louis would have had to pick the blonde up, and he just wasn’t strong enough for that right now.

“Which one?” Louis asked. He was also curled in the fetal position, only he was sitting up and hugging his legs while he rocked back and forth.

“Both of them,” Niall replied, whining his way through his fits of trembling. “But specifically, the black-haired one.”

“I like the other one,” Louis noted, finally getting some air into his lungs and tilting his head up to stare at the unforgiving fluorescents. “What was it again? Harley and Zander?”

“Yeah, that sounds right,” Niall sighed, pushing himself off the floor to sit side-by-side with his Omega friend. “What do we do? We still have five more classes. What if they’re in all of them? We only have one more class together. What if I have to deal with that on my own all day? I’m gonna die, Louis, I’m gonna—”

“Niall!” Louis shouted, slapping Niall in the face to shake him out of his inconsolable fit. “You’ve gotta get a grip on yourself. I know we’re the only Omegas in this human school, so that’s a lot of pressure, but that actually could work in our favour. They don’t have much to choose from if they’re looking for mates. They didn’t smell mated, we might have a chance.”

“I could never be calm and collected enough to be a desirable mate. Not to _them_. The _accents_ , Lou. They’re _British_ , Lou. I can’t do this,” he whimpered, leaning over to crash back onto his side, but Louis grabbed him just before he would hit the floor, and heaved them both to their feet.

“You have to. We both have to. We’re already late for our next class, and yours is further than mine from here. You have to go, regardless of whether Zander is in there or not. I know you’ll do great. Are you ready?” Louis encouraged, trying to sound as confident as possible to give Niall motivation, but truthfully five minutes from having a heart attack himself.

“Fine,” Niall groaned, bending to lift his bag off the floor and sling it over his shoulder. “Come find me at lunch. The bench.”

“Always! Alright, brother…let’s go.”

They anxiously walked together until they had to separate, seeing each other off with comforting words and smiles. Louis power-walked his way to the room that held his sure to be irritated teacher at his truancy, and the poor Omega was blindsided as soon as he flung the door open.

He had smelled them, sure, but he just figured their scent was contaminating the whole damn school. And while that might be true, when he was blasted with it in the class, he knew they were here.

He could sense their exact location but he kept his eyes trained onto his teacher, whose feathers were ruffled like a bird at the untimely entrance. “Louis Tomlinson!” he barked in his most intimidating manner, although Louis would never react to a human like he reacts to Alphas. Like the Alphas in the bloody room that were currently witnessing him get scolded, for instance. “Why are you _always_ late?”

Louis shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes; a common response to Mr. Eby’s constant nagging and complaining. Louis will admit Niall and him spent quite the large amount of time in that bathroom in-between classes, so it’s not like this was the first time they’d ever been late. “I guess my sundial is broken,” he sassed, earning a chorused chuckle from the room and a manic eye-twitch from Mr. Eby.

“I ought to send you to detention, Louis. It’s always the same with you. Where’s your homework?” he demanded.

Louis huffed a sigh and flung his heavy backpack onto the teacher’s desk, taking his sweet time to get his binder out. “What’s this class again?” he asked uninterestedly, making a show of looking at the board to read the subject and then flipping to the correct file in his binder.

Mr. Eby was glaring daggers into Louis’ face, but he snatched the homework out of the Omega’s hand without a word. The teacher thrust a quiz at Louis’ chest and shooed him away to his seat while he slammed the homework down in the pile on top of everyone else’s.

When Louis turned around, he was met with the owners of the infuriating scents he’d been choking on all morning, _staring_ at him with mirth in their sparkling eyes and small upturns at the corners of their lips. They were apparently sizing him up, and Louis says that because Harley’s gaze was unmistakably traveling all over his body. And though he was self-conscious as all fuck, Louis still managed to stumble into his seat in the dead center of the room without a longing moan ripping its way out of his throat.

Moaning seems like it would be an easy thing to prevent, but it’s not. It’s _really_ not. Not around boys like this. Louis’ suppressants were the _only_ thing saving him from jumping on their laps and shoving his neck in their faces. He could feel their calculated focus on him as he stared at the blank pop-quiz he’d interrupted, and every second was taking a day off his lifespan.

The Alphas were to the back and left of him, and he thankfully couldn’t see them unless he turned around, but even just shifting his head an inch to look out the window was out of the question—because then there they’d appear, right in his weak and undeniable peripherals.

It took everything in him to keep his attention on this damn quiz, and he bubbled in the self-explanatory answers on what happened during World War II. How many times he’d have to relearn about this war in public school, he had no clue. This particular class was such a joke, and it was additionally led by a hopelessly boring sack potatoes for a teacher, so...Fitting. It was hard to care.

Harley gracefully swept down the aisle to slap his quiz on the front desk, and Louis tried so hard not to look. He really did…but his body did it for him. His treacherous eyes flew up to gander in awe at the Alpha’s flawless body shape, and then even higher to catch his heart-stopping gaze. Foolish in hindsight to think that Louis could successfully handle that level of interaction.

As soon as their eyes privately met, Louis gasped and gripped the sides of his desk to keep from falling out and bowing down like that idiot Niall had done. He held his breath and powerlessly watched as Harley smirked at him, revealing a beautiful and personality-filled dimple. A _dimple._

Louis was gradually but worrisomely losing control over himself, and his throat crossed the line as it painfully constricted and morphed into that of his wolf’s. Not good. Louis had nobody to shake him out of it like he’d been able to do for Niall, so he needed to somehow force it back down by his own means. He closed his eyes and took a deep rumbly breath, searching the depths of his soul so he could command his animal to stop its unwarranted meddling right this instant.

Before he even got close, Mr. Fucking Eby took that time to call Louis out for ‘sleeping,’ and the Omega’s heartbeat accelerated as he tried to conjure a solution to this highly unfortunate circumstance. Louis knew he couldn’t actually speak yet, but Mr. Eby wasn’t at all satisfied with the silent stare he was being pierced with, and he was even more concerned with the boy’s strange and shaky behavior.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, the whole class turning to look at Louis’ tensed form. The Omega gritted his teeth so he wouldn’t growl at them and squeezed his eyes shut when he saw his wolf vision creep into his perception, knowing his irises were about to change their colours.

“Louis?” a girl on his left asked worriedly, reaching out to put a hand on his back. Her wrist was caught before she could make contact by a ringed hand out of nowhere, and she looked up to see the beautiful new boy towering over her with an oddly threatening glare.

Harry literally put her hand back on her own desk and grabbed Louis’ arm instead, pulling it around his shoulders and lifting him up with an arm around his waist. “I’m taking him to the infirmary,” he announced, skillfully making his way out of the class while supporting Louis’ full weight.

Louis knew what was going on, but he didn’t dare make one single sound or open his eyes until he was away from the humans. He left himself in Harley’s care and let the Alpha drag him out of class, completely locking himself inside his body until it was safe to let go.

Just before they were out of hearing range, Harry heard Zayn say, “Panic attack” as an explanation for the vagueness of everything that had just occurred, and it was just one more reason to love his faithful bodyguard more than life.

Luckily their class wasn’t far from an exit in the building because Harry noticed Louis was still holding his breath, and he didn’t know how much longer the Omega’s lungs could retain that. He picked up his pace as much as Louis’ distressed form would allow, and finally they were greeted with the cold and refreshing air of the winter morning.

The pair still weren’t secluded from all possible view quite yet, so Harry walked them down the side of the building until they were around the back with nothing but the empty sports fields before them. Sniffing the air once more to make sure no humans were lurking nearby, he wrapped his arms around the Omega’s back and held him against his chest. “We’re safe now,” he whispered.

Louis gasped for air like he’d just been drowned and rescued, and his golden eyes flew open to stare wildly at their surroundings. His canine breathing was growly and ragged, and the Alpha only tightened his arms as he waited for the boy to regain control. He backed them up against the brick wall and pinned the Omega to it with his body, trying to cover him as much as possible.

Louis was positively swimming in the Alpha’s scent and he sought out that amazing spot where his neck and shoulder meet, but it was frustratingly hidden by his dark, blood-red jumper.

Harry knew was he was trying to do, so he lifted his collar up and away from his scent spot and held the back of Louis’ head to it, letting the jumper go and rubbing his hand down the Omega’s back. “Shh, love,” he cooed when Louis’ whines were getting too loud. “Get your throat back, you can’t make those noises here.”

Louis was still in disbelief that this gorgeous Alpha was actually pressed up against him and helping him through the precipice of a drop, so he did his best to control it, or else the Alpha would have an even _bigger_ problem that he didn’t sign up for.

Though, Louis couldn’t deny the fierce arousal and lust he now had, and he linked his arms around the neck he was inhaling and hooked his legs around the Alpha’s torso one by one.

Harry chuckled at the armful of Omega he had now, and he hiked him further up the wall so he didn’t need to use his arms as much. “Louis, I need you to get ahold of yourself. We only have so much time before the infirmary is called and they find out we’re not there when we said we would be.”

“I’m alright,” Louis croaked, having finally gotten his throat under control because Harley had told him to.

“Are you gonna be good for me?” the Alpha asked, detangling the legs behind him and setting his feet on the ground. “I could make you if you can’t.”

Louis shivered at the wonderful threat and was almost tempted to do something anyway just so that he _would_ get made, but he didn’t. Well, apparently he actually did...he honestly hadn’t even realized he’d begun rutting his hips against the Alpha’s thigh until he received a moan masked by a warning growl, and was quickly spun around to face the wall as Harley dropped to his knees behind him.

Now _this_ was a ridiculously suggestive position to be in, and Louis didn’t know what was about to happen, but he couldn’t bloody wait for it.

The Alpha hiked Louis’ jumper up above his hips and scented at the typically cold Omega skin beneath it. To prepare it for his bite, Harley gave a few nips and kisses to a particular spot on Louis’ left lower-back region, right above the line of his trousers where the material was sure to rub against the mark mercilessly.

Louis had never been given an Alpha’s bite before, and he was quivering in anticipation for his first. He strained his neck to ensure his ability to witness the whole event, and Harley’s bright green eyes looked up to him from his kneeling position at Louis’ hips. That in itself was almost sufficient enough to make the Omega come, but the Alpha spoke promptly before any more uncontrollable reactions could occur within Louis’ vulnerable body.

“With this mark, I will solely own you for the rest of the day. You will belong to me, so you’ll do exactly as I say. And you won’t have a choice, because I will be controlling you. Do you understand?” he asked, needing to get the terms and agreements speech out of the way before going forward with the temporary bond. He waited patiently until Louis gave a shaky “uh-huh,” and then gladly continued. “You’re going to be very good for the rest of the day. You are going to be stable and inconspicuous. You won’t do anything to garner the suspicion of the humans. You’re going to put your wolf to sleep, and you’re going to keep it that way until you get home tonight. And when you’re home, you’re gonna wake it up and pleasure yourself while you think of me. Are we clear?”

Louis nodded vigorously from his position against the wall and stared in fascination as the classic Alpha canines elongated from Harley’s already sharp teeth. They looked absolutely lethal and Harley pulled his upper lip back almost menacingly as he went in straight for Louis’ exposed skin.

The Omega only got a second of sudden panic before he watched the canines pierce right through his flesh, and then his world consisted of nothing but tranquility. All the nervous thoughts and anxiety-ridden fears he’d had washed away with the blood that was spilling into the Alpha’s mouth.

Harry transferred his unbreakable and fully binding compulsion into the bite, additionally sending every comforting and supportive emotion he could spare to the sweet little Omega as he did it. Their hormones were in a whirlwind as they mixed together to form the temporary bond. The connection would last until Louis had completed the last task that had been ordered of him, which meant tonight, and the Alpha daresay he wished it were longer than that.

Harry licked the wound closed and looked around carefully to ensure nobody had seen the encounter. Once the Alpha knew they were still hidden, he pulled Louis’ jumper back down and pressed his fingers against the quickly healing scar to make sure it worked. He felt an intense surge of the Omega’s automatic submission when the mark was touched, so Harry’s work here was officially done.

The Alpha rose back onto his feet and took the lovely boy in his arms one last time before they would have to return to class. There was about twenty five minutes left of it, so they couldn’t really skip out...no matter how much both of them wanted to.

Louis nuzzled into the hug casually, unable to do anything else because all of his reactions were under Harley’s control. The Alpha wasn’t allowing him to feel scared, nervous, or overly excited in any way, instead keeping him perfectly level-headed and neutral. It was an incredibly foreign sensation for Louis to have such a demanding presence in his mind.

It wasn’t that Louis was inwardly suffering while maintaining an expressionless exterior, by the way. Rather, even in the deepest and darkest areas of his whole being, the negative emotions and feelings just weren’t there. He had no access to them at all, and he wondered if this is what being mated feels like—always having someone to take away the pain if and when you’re hurting. If so, he could get used to it.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Louis’ utterly blank face, and he tilted his chin up to make sure he was getting through to him. “Smile, love. You have every reason to be happy and careless. Let me see you smile,” he murmured, poking Louis’ cheek with a gentle finger.

Louis grinned as told, and Harry swooned at how incredibly precious it was. The Omega’s eyes crinkled around the outer edges and the smile itself was just so adorably and characteristically lopsided that Harry couldn’t help but coo and crush him in another embrace.

Louis went to purr but found he couldn’t do it, since it wasn’t a very human sound, but Harry knew what he almost did and appreciated the attempt. The Omega resorted to letting out a happy sigh against his Alpha’s chest, and Harry leaned down to his neck to breathe in Louis’ scent while he freely could.

They both knew they had to go back now, so Harry retracted himself from the tempting beauty and settled on grabbing his hand to lead him back to class. Once inside the building though, Harry reluctantly let go and pushed the Omega in front of him instead to look after him and make sure he didn’t get wobbly.

The wolves quietly reentered the classroom as Mr. Eby was giving a lecture on the evacuation of Dunkirk, and all curious eyes fell on Louis, but he wouldn’t snap under pressure this time.

“Louis, are you alright?” Mr. Eby paused to ask.

“Yes, thank you,” the Omega politely responded, ignoring everyone’s invasive stares and nonchalantly taking his seat. Louis diligently opened his notebooks and readied his pen for when the teacher resumed his speech. Mr. Eby looked like he wanted to say more, but he shrugged his shoulders passively in the end and continued on with the lesson.

Zayn was smirking at Harry to an unfathomable degree and the Alpha snapped his teeth together to let his protector know what happened. Zayn chuckled and shook his head fondly, adding more words to his notes while Harry on the other hand was now finding it much more difficult to focus.

If only Harry could make himself be good in the same way he’d made Louis, but instead, everyone around him was being an assiduous student while he was stealing distracting glances at his Omega every few moments. It was providential that he was relentlessly staring though, because that meant the Alpha caught all of Louis’ adorable moments he would have missed otherwise, even if he felt them through the bond.

The Alpha witnessed Louis slowly inching his hand from his lap to his left hip, sneaking it around to his lower left back to put pressure on the mark. Harry always felt a rush of his own endorphins when that happened, but Louis had it better of course. The Omega’s back would arch every time, and anyone around him would assume he was just innocently stretching, but the Alphas knew it was from addictive pleasure.

“You really got him, didn’t you?” Zayn whispered to his master, who didn’t even hear him because he was lost in the neck bone that was popping out through the top of the Omega’s grey jumper. “Or did he get you?” Zayn added knowingly, Harry still impervious to his words.

 

\---

 

The class ended and Louis packed his things, looking back at Harley for guidance when he was ready to leave. The Alpha smiled and beckoned him over to his desk while he shoved the rest of his books into his bag. “Hello, Louis,” he greeted lowly as the remaining students were passing them to leave.

“Hi,” the Omega responded, falling deeper into Harley’s spell the longer he looked into his persuasive eyes.

“You did really good, I’m very proud of you,” the Alpha praised as Zayn watched in amusement from their right.

“Just like you asked,” Louis said shyly.

“That’s right, Lou. What’s your next class?” he asked, reaching out and taking the Omega’s hand, caressing the back of it with his thumb.

“English.”

“Okay, I want you to go to your class and pay attention. Take good notes and don’t think about me too much, alright? I will be around, but I know I don’t have English next so I don’t know when we’ll see each other again. Give me your phone,” he instructed, smiling when Louis handed it over instantly.

He took the phone and typed his number into the contact list under his fake name, starring it so it would come up first, and he handed it back to the Omega when he was done. “Now you have my number. Text me if you really need me, but you should be fine until lunch. I’ll miss you.”

Zayn’s eyes widened at the intense but completely genuine statement, and he was definitely going to interrogate Harry about it later.

“I’ll miss you too,” Louis said, shoving the phone in his pocket and squeezing Harley’s fingers.

The Alpha brought Louis’ hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the soft skin before letting go and giving him a push in the opposite direction. “Off you go,” he said, watching with pride as the Omega nodded respectively and shuffled out of the class.

When he was out of earshot, Zayn took his opportunity to ask what that just was, but Harry gave him a warning look and stood from his seat. “Later…come on, we’ll be late,” he said, not waiting for Zayn but knowing he’d be right behind him.

 

\---

 

Louis hardly noticed the next two classes pass by until suddenly the bell for lunch rang, and he ran into Niall on his way out.

“Oh!” the blonde exclaimed, backing up and hugging his binder to his chest while he smiled in relief. “You didn’t come to the bathroom, and you weren’t answering my texts. Is everything okay?”

Louis was being a little unresponsive, and it slightly worried Niall, so the blonde linked their elbows together and walked him to their bench under the big walnut tree in the middle of campus. Niall sat him down carefully when they arrived and took a good look into his fellow Omega’s eyes, gasping at what he discovered.

Louis’ eyes were very obviously glazed over and severely jaded—his focus clearly muddled by some external force. Niall got down on his knees in front of the Omega so he was in plain sight, and shook him by the shoulders to bring him out of his stupor.

“Hmm?” Louis mumbled, blinking slowly and training his eyes on Niall’s concerned expression.

“Louis? Are you okay? What’s that smell on you?” Niall asked suspiciously, leaning in to take a whiff and coughing from the potent scent of an Alpha. “I knew it…Louis, what happened? Were you with Harley? That’s way stronger than it should be.”

“Harley…” Louis drawled, fumbling to get his phone out of his pocket so he could communicate with the Alpha.

Niall climbed back onto the bench and put his hand on the small of Louis’ back as he peered over his shoulder at the screen. Louis immediately moaned from the touch and dropped the phone onto the ground as he squirmed away from Niall’s hand. _What the—_ Niall wondered in confusion.

Louis leaned down to retrieve his phone, and his jumper rode up just enough for Niall to catch a glimpse of the Alpha’s bite etched into his skin. “Holy shit,” Niall breathed, looking around to make sure nobody was watching before hiking Louis’ jumper all the way over the area, and bending down to study it closer. The mark was fresh and strongly compelling; so much so that Niall started to get weak in the head from all the hormones it was giving off.

Niall was appalled, jealous, concerned, and excited, but most of all, terribly curious about the backstory of this branding. He went to ask Louis this very question, but the Omega was still putting his all into unlocking his own phone. Niall huffed in exasperation and snatched it out of Louis’ hand to unlock it for him and click into his contacts.

Luckily Harley had put his number in, so Niall tapped the number to call it while Louis started rubbing his mark and panting from the blissful dizziness it caused. Because of this, Niall figured he should do the talking and he waited impatiently for Harley to answer, sighing in relief when he finally did.

“Louis,” Harley sung sweetly, but of course he was mistaken.

“It’s Niall,” the blonde spoke back, deciding to cut right to the chase. “Did you bite my friend?”

“Yeah, I did. I’m on my way to you right now. Please tell him I’ll see him soon,” Harley said as Niall picked up some muffled words that were most likely directed at the other Alpha that was with him.

“How do you know where we are?” Niall asked, instantly feeling stupid because he already knew.

“He bears my mark,” Harley replied obviously. “I’d always be able to find him.”

“Is that Harley?” Louis croaked, hearing the faint tones of his Alpha on the other end of the line.

“Yeah, babes. He’s on his way,” Niall soothed.

“You stay there as well, Niall. Zander wants to be around you,” Harley said vaguely as the line went dead.

Niall gulped and stared at the screen until it went dark, already beginning to sweat from his nerves.

Louis reached over and took the phone, smiling at his friend in that comforting way that he does. “It’s okay,” he promised, holding the Omega’s hands and giggling when he detected the Alphas weren’t far away. “They’re here.”

The Alphas glided across the grass toward the bench and Harley plopped down right next to Louis, pulling him into his arms and breathing a lengthy sigh of contentment. Niall was hopelessly confused at the sudden overly familiar dynamic of the duo, but Zander held out his hand in a silent request to walk a short distance away so he could explain to the blonde the jist of what had happened.

Niall gulped once again but somehow gathered the strength to touch the Alpha and slid his hand into Zander’s palm, tensing as he did so. They walked to an opposite bench and sat down together, unnoticed by the affectionate couple they’d just left.

 

~~~

 

“Hey, sweetie,” Harry addressed the serene Omega, brushing his mark for good measure. Louis shivered and curled in closer, intoxicated beyond comprehension from all the powerful sensations that were shooting through his body.

“I’m yours,” Louis said almost like a question.

“That’s right, Lou. You are mine,” Harry confirmed, fixing Louis’ messy fringe for him.

“But not always?” Louis asked casually, because he couldn’t actually whine.

Harry couldn’t reply for a few weighted seconds and he tightened his arms around the Omega with a long sigh, setting his chin on Louis’ head and breathing in his delectable scent. After some deep introspection, Harry chuckled and lowered his head to speak his next words onto Louis’ cheek.

“I’ve already claimed you, Louis. Biting you wasn’t an accident, nor was it a lost-in-the-moment kind of thing...I was hoping you would say yes. And after leaving my mark, I don’t think I could ever let you go. But you need to come to me after my compulsion fades, or I won’t truly know if you’re independently picking me or not. I want to court you, Louis. I know it’s soon, and we don’t really know each other yet, but I want to. If you’d let me. I want to know you better and more intimately than _anyone_ else does, and I’ll open the depths of my heart to you as well. There’s a lot going on in my life right now—I’m in America for a reason, but I think I could keep you safe…” he trailed, looking across the way to his loyal watchdog, and getting a bit lost in thoughts of their current whirlwind of predicaments.

“I don’t care what you did. What you’re doing. I want you always,” Louis slurred, knowing he would jump for joy over this later.

“I hope you will,” Harry sighed, obviously leaving something important out, but Louis wasn’t permitted to ask.

 

~~~

 

“So he almost turned?” Niall recapped incredulously.

“Yeah…if Harley hadn’t been there…well it probably wouldn’t have happened in the first place, but he was the only one that could have stopped it,” Zayn informed, getting side-tracked by a suspicious smell coming off of the blonde. “Do I smell an Alpha on you?” he asked a little agitatedly.

Niall paled and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look as innocent as possible. “It’s my friend, Liam.”

“Friend? An Alpha friend?” Zayn asked skeptically, furrowing his eyebrows and fighting a possessive growl.

“I’m not mated,” Niall supplied to diffuse the tension.

“Maybe not, but he’s been scenting you possessively. You probably can’t even tell. This particular scent is just for other Alphas. To ward them off of you,” he snarled, grabbing the blonde and hauling him into his side, tucking his nose in the Omega’s neck and giving him his own guarding scent.

“Ah!” Niall exclaimed, biting back a moan. “What are you—”

“Quiet,” the Alpha grumbled, breathing all over his bonding spot to overpower the presumptuous mystery Alpha’s, trying his hardest to keep his canines in his gums. Once satisfied, Zayn reemerged from the tempting neck and coughed from choking so hard on the scents he’d inhaled.

“There,” he said proudly, grabbing the Omega’s face with his hands and rubbing more of his scent all over him. “Now I’m in charge.”

“Okay,” Niall whimpered, getting more used to the Alpha the more he was around him. Which is a lucky thing, otherwise he’d be in Louis’ position. Speaking of…

“Can we go back over to them?” Niall asked, wanting to be close to his Omega brother.

“Whatever you want,” Zayn replied, helping Niall up and walking back to their respective best friends.

 

\---

 

When the bell rang to end lunch, the Omegas sighed depressingly but they all found out they had the same class together again, and the tables turned. That class was calculus, and as horrible as that was, they now had two Alphas to fond at the whole time, so they were pleased.

Louis’ last class was unfortunately without any of them, but then finally school was out, and he met Niall on the parking lot like they always do before they drive home. The Omegas were walking to their cars when they heard the Alphas call out behind them.

“Omegas!” Harley shouted without thinking, running up with Zander when the submissives froze and turned around. As soon as the Alphas approached them, they threw their arms around their potential bondmates and held them close to say goodbye.

“I’ll be able to feel you later tonight, Louis. Don’t forget what you’re supposed to do,” Harley whispered seductively.

“I won’t,” Louis said calmly, not enjoying the thought of the end to their temporary bond. “When will I be yours for real?”

“Soon, love. You’re a priority of mine. Remember that,” Harley said, giving him a kiss on the neck and backing away toward his black…Escalade?

 _Jesus_ , Louis thought appreciatively. _He is rich…Who is this Alpha?_

Zander had concluded his talk with Niall as well, and both Alphas sauntered away to their luxurious car, leaving the Omegas to try and continue their day without them. Which seemed impossible, but alright.

 

\---

 

“Louis!” Joan frantically called as soon as Louis walked into the front door.

“What, Mom?” he asked nervously, still fuzzy from the bite but gaining more clarity with the separation from the Alpha. His hand was frantically grabbed and he was yanked down the hallway before he could even take off his shoes, getting dragged into the kitchen where his family were all standing over a newspaper on the table.

“Haven’t you heard?” Lottie asked, offendedly sniffing the air when Louis got too close to her.

Truthfully, all of Louis’ family knew he absolutely reeked of Alpha, but there were more pressing matters at the moment.

“No?” he replied unsurely, getting thrusted the paper in question while his Mother ragefully paced across the floor.

Louis knew at once that it was their species’ secret paper that got delivered by secret mailmen from a secret company, secret secret blahblah, and he flicked the paper straight and began to read the infuriating words inked onto the front page. “What!” he barked, dropping the paper like it burned him and turning to face his Mother.

“Yeah,” she agreed in a huff. “They banned suppressants. BANNED THEM. That wretched King. Birth control too—it’s all banned. Discontinued. It’s going to be _criminalized_. It’s like the seventies all over again,” she growled, falling down into her chair and balling the paper in her shaking fists.

“But they can’t do this,” Louis tried to say with confidence.

“‘Course they can,” Fizzy argued, taking a sip of her tea and sighing into the mug. “It’s just more discrimination against Omegas. To put us in our place where we belong. There’s an uprising in Britain, but I doubt it’s going to get us anywhere. They want control again,” she said bitterly while Lottie rubbed circles onto her back in support.

“But what about work? How will any of us work? Go to school? Make a life for ourselves at all?” Louis whined, furiously scratching at his mark to calm himself, but it actually riled him up even more.

“Louis, what _are_ you doing?” Joan asked, walking around to inspect Louis’ passionate arm movements behind his back.

“No, no…nothing,” Louis said, trying to push his shirt back down, but Joan was too quick and she lifted it all the way up his back.

“Louis!” she breathed, getting full view of the Alpha’s bite on her son’s lower hip. “Who did this?”

His sisters all ran behind him to inspect the mystery themselves, and they giggled maniacally when they discovered what it was. “No wonder you smell like Alpha,” Lottie said, giving him a pat on the shoulder and sitting back down.

“Uh, it was a new Alpha at school. There’s two. They’re from England,” Louis said, not having the heart to dive into what Harley was really like.

“England, huh? I guess all Alphas are in danger,” Fizzy laughed, joining her sister at the table. “Looks like they’re all fleeing the country. Probably riots in the streets. As there _should be_.”

“But _why_ would he bite you? How could you let this happen?” Joan demanded, not giving a damn about where the unprecedented Alpha was from.

“I almost turned in class,” Louis said guiltily, finally shoving his shirt back down and leaning against the counter.

“Are you gonna explain that?” Lottie asked impatiently.

“Well, shit, I dunno,” Louis stammered, wincing at the glare he received from his Mother for cursing. “My throat was out, and my eyes turned, and all kinds of stuff was happening, and the teacher called on me, but I couldn’t move, and I guess Harley saw and he took me outside, but I wouldn’t calm down, so he bit me…” he defended in a rushed speech. “It’s really not that—”

“If you say ‘big of a deal,’ I will slap you,” Joan warned, _tsk_ ing at the reckless behavior, but understanding it had been necessary. “I’m glad he did it, but I wanna meet him before you go any further. Bonds are for life...you know that, right? Obviously not that one, but you have a lot to think about if he’s going to make you his. What of this other Alpha?” she asked, sitting down next to her daughters while they all stared at him expectantly.

“Well, he’s interested in Niall,” Louis informed, hopping up on the counter and taking a bite of an apple he’d grabbed from the never empty fruit bowl. “Harley and Zander. Harley’s mine. They’re British, if I didn’t mention earlier.”

“Harley is _yours_?” Fizzy said suggestively, waggling her eyebrows and earning a smack from Lottie.

“We still need to discuss the clusterfuck the King just decreed. What are we all going to do?” the eldest sister questioned to her quiet and contemplative family, this time the cursing going ignored.

“Maybe Dad will have an idea,” Fizzy said hopefully, knowing they had about three hours before he was due to come home from work.

“Does he know?” Louis asked Joan, who nodded and scowled at the paper for the umpteenth time.

“I called him earlier…Louis, you have to keep this Alpha business under the table for now. I know you can’t hide the smell, but leave the temporary bond part out, would you? You’re acting decently normal, it doesn’t need to come up,” she said anxiously, hoping that the overly protective Daryl wouldn’t cause a huge uproar about it on top of everything else.

“He might be able to smell it anyway,” Louis said gravely, recalling how strong an Alpha’s senses really were. “They can detect all kinds of stuff we can’t.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, then,” Joan said with a wave of her hand. “Go get some sleep, Louis. I’m sure your wolf is absolutely exhausted.”

“Actually, he put it to sleep,” Louis negated, shrugging at the incredulous stares he got. “What?”

“Only an Alpha who is actually bonded to their Omega can turn off their true natures like that. Do you have any idea how much power that takes?” Joan squeaked, hardly believing a high school Alpha could harness that ability with an Omega he’d just met.

“Oh, well…I don’t know, then. It worked. All I can say, really,” Louis said shyly, jumping down onto his feet and timidly backing out of the kitchen under the weight of their shocked faces.

“Later. We’ll talk about this later,” Joan said, shaking her head slowly and resuming her staring contest with the offensive newspaper. “Go relax.”

Louis jogged down the hallway and shut the door with his foot, falling onto his bed and throwing the covers over his whole body. There in his hideout, he was reminded of Harley’s sensual words against his back and the spell came rushing back as his wolf sprung to life. He had one thing left to do.

He rolled over twice until he could reach down to get his box out from under his bed. You already know what’s in the box, he doesn’t have to say. He took the special Omega toy out and grabbed the lube since he couldn’t produce his own right now. Special Omega toy just encompasses a vibrator with a button next to the on and off switch that would inflate an imitation knot. Better than nothing.

He shucked off his pants as quickly as he could and flopped back onto the bed to take a few calming breaths. He held the lube up above him, turning it around in his fingers and sighing. Soon, he wouldn’t need lube anymore because his own body would provide it for him, and he didn’t quite know how to feel about that.

A secret and treacherous side of him was ecstatic that his true Omega would finally be able to shine like it deserved, but it’s also a right to be able to suppress it to fit in with society. To walk unnoticed among the humans no matter what time of the month it was.

A right that had been heavily fought for among their species for decades, and now it was just getting taken away in the blink of an eye. In the typing of a headline. And it just sucked that the more Louis thought about it, the more he truly missed his slick and heats. They were such a big part of him that had been locked away...by his own choice, but still…

He opened the bottle with a shrug of his shoulders and squirted as much as he needed onto his fingers, probably for the last time, then he slowly snuck his hand down under his balls to reach that magical hole that he loved so much. His back arched as he pushed two fingers inside the tight entrance, and almost all at once, he felt a warmth at his back and a forceful tingle. Harley’s bite. Louis thought hard about the Alpha as promised; his scent, his aura, his sickly sweet English accent, the deep rumble of his slow-paced voice, the elvish green of his eyes—only thing he can compare it to. He was like an elf, okay?

To Louis’ surprise and peaked interest, the more he focused on and envisioned the Alpha owner of the mark, the further down the tingling traveled. It was like the bite itself had gotten up and was walking down his body to settle on…his prostate.

 _Holy fuck_ , Louis thought in astonishment. He immediately removed his fingers and squeezed an unnecessary amount of lube onto the dildo, pushing that inside himself instead and angling it to reach the spot that the tingling was making its home at.

Louis found it pretty quickly because he didn’t need any prep, considering how desperate he was. When Omegas are extremely aroused, the walls inside their holes open up and slightly push apart because evolutionarily speaking, it was because they would imminently receive a knot.

That’s why heats were so incredibly painful—because their insides would stretch and gape for the entry of an Alpha, and there would be nothing more prominent than the aching need to fill that hole. It was empty and desolate without at least something to hold them off, so thank the heavens for dildos. Louis shudders to think of what unmated Omegas did in the past to help themselves.

Getting back to his preferred present time, he angled the toy upward to massage his prostate but he almost couldn’t take the intensity, so he pushed it in all the way instead. He never turned the vibration settings on because he wanted to keep things as realistic as possible, but that was fine because his prostate was kind of currently vibrating on its own.

Louis found he didn’t have much strength to keep his arm going, so he used his feet instead. And yes, that maybe sounds a bit weird, but Louis has devised a way to grab the handle with his heels and keep it in place so he could move his hips back and forth to reach his goal. Call it years of being unmated and having all the time in the world to pleasure yourself in all the ways you could think of.

The Omega rolled his hips around and quickly grabbed a pillow to smush over his face and sink his teeth into so he wouldn’t outright scream into the quiet of his room. Just because his family probably knew what he was doing, that did _not_ mean they should have to hear it.

He distantly heard his phone ring from somewhere on the bed, and he was going to ignore it completely because he was obviously busy, but something told him he should probably get it, so he slapped a searching hand on the sheets until he hit the screen, and he brought it to his ear.

“Hello?” he answered breathlessly. He maybe should have checked who was calling before he picked the damn thing up, but his curiosity was satisfied when he got the reply.

“My Louis,” Harley greeted approvingly, revelling in how needy the Omega sounded from just a simple word. “Can you feel me?”

Understanding Harley was referring to the vibrations, Louis nodded his head but then rolled his eyes at himself for it, remembering he was on the phone. “It’s really intense,” he moaned, taking the end of the toy back into his hand to speed things up for himself.

“What exactly are you doing?” Harley drawled seductively, getting himself worked up over the whole situation.

“I have a toy,” Louis whispered, not trusting his voice to stay at a reasonable volume.

“Do you,” the Alpha mused delightfully.

“It has a—a knot on it. I can make it.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. Nothing compared to the real thing, but it’ll do,” Harley noted, somehow increasing the pressure on Louis’ prostate.

“F-fuck, _Harley_ ,” Louis groaned, arching his back so far that his hips rose all the way off the bed. “I need you.”

“I know you do. You need to come, don’t you?” the Alpha taunted, using the sweetest tone he could to the desperate little submissive.

“Please,” Louis whined, reluctant to let the bond end but in a much bigger need for release. “I’m already—close,” he panted.

“Turn on the knot, then.”

Louis didn’t need to be told twice and he pressed the amazing button that would slowly fill him until it was stuck. “Thank you,” he whimpered, breathing heavily as his orgasm crept upward to float just under the surface. He just needed a little push, and he’d go over the edge.

Harry listened carefully to Louis’ breathing pattern and waited until the Omega truly couldn’t take it anymore before permitting him to have what he was so greatly vying for. “Come,” he commanded.

The Omega sobbed as he was blindsided by the strongest climax he’d ever felt. If this was just a fraction of what mating feels like…

The “knot” finally inflated to its maximum size, and Louis’ release was shot all over his chest, but he didn’t even think to wash it off. He couldn’t really move even if he wanted to, and he was only using his arm muscles to hold the phone because Harley was on the other end of it.

“Good job, Omega,” Harley praised when Louis’ breathing settled down, “Now I want you to keep it inside of you and go to sleep. Don’t you dare take it out until you’ve actually woken up for the day tomorrow morning. Do you understand me?” he asked sternly.

“Yes, Alpha. I’ll leave it in,” Louis promised, rolling on his side and twitching when the action created all sorts of new tingles.

“You’re mine, Louis. I’ll have you someday, that I’m sure of. I promise you, you will get my knot. Okay? Alphas don’t go back on their promises.”

“I’ll be good for you, always,” Louis said softly, close to sleep already.

“I know you will. Sweet dreams, Omega,” Harley said in such a way that Louis knew he was smiling.

“You’ll be in them,” Louis said shyly, yawning and snuggling under the covers with a makeshift knot locked inside of him.

“Then I’ll see you soon. Bye, Lou,” Harley said warmly before the line went dead.

Louis dropped the phone onto the sheets and couldn’t bring himself to care that he hadn’t plugged it into the charger, and he closed his eyes to go see the Alpha in his dreams.

 

~~~

 

\---

 

Harry was asleep in his bed in the dead of night when Zayn busted in his front door and practically knocked his bedroom one right off its hinges. They’d bought a duplex from a wolf landlord who gladly accepted their cash when they got to America, so they were right next to each other, but still maintained a small amount of privacy. However, that clearly did nothing to stop them from barging in to each other’s houses unannounced.

“Harry! Harry, have you seen it?” Zayn shouted, flicking on his lamp and dropping onto the queen mattress Harry had on his floor.

He hated sleeping raised, leave him alone.

“Wha—what are you—”

Zayn shoved his phone under Harry’s nose, and the Alpha noticed it was on the secret IP address and browser to be able to see their species’ news. “He did it. Your Father passed the law.”

“No,” Harry breathed, sitting up and scrolling through the article. “Damnit,” he muttered, dropping the phone and laying back onto his bed as he rubbed his eyelids with his palms. “I had hoped he wouldn’t go through with it.”

“Well, we knew he would. That’s why we left. If there was ever a chance, we wouldn’t have left,” Zayn said, still in shock himself regardless.

“Yeah, but…what are the Omegas going to do? They’re all gonna go into heat, what are they supposed to do?” he asked, feeling deeply sympathetic toward his counterparts.

Zayn shrugged and scrolled through the rest of the article, making sure no big detail was being left out. “Suppressants, birth control, tube-tying surgery, everything. Illegalized. This is so stupid.”

“Luckily we have a shit ton of birth control,” Harry said, trying to bring something positive to this catastrophe.

“Yeah, but that does nothing to help anyone but ourselves. Well, our Omegas…I just can’t believe they left the lab unlocked,” the watchdog mentioned offhandedly, tossing his phone on the floor and flattening himself on his stomach next to his Prince.

“Well, I’m sure my Father didn’t expect his heir to break into it and disappear with a many years’ supply,” Harry chuckled, sitting up and placing his feet on the floor, resting his elbows on his bent knees and fiddling with his rings.

“How much do we have again?” Zayn asked, rolling to the side and lifting his head to set it on his palm.

“I don’t know. It’s like I said…years’ worth,” Harry said confidently, holding back a laugh at their successful theft. “Two giant garbage bags full of it? I have no idea exactly how much, but it’s a shit ton.”

“I can’t believe we actually got here without anyone recognizing us,” Zayn said in awe, dropping back down and locking his fingers behind his head.

“I can. Nobody knows what we look like. What I’m impressed with is the escape in general. You can thank Timothy for that genius planning to get us out at all. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have gotten those phones and the car. I just hated being on that huge transporter ship. That part sucked,” he recalled with distaste.

“Connor and Murphy made it worth it, though…We told everyone else in our group that we were going to Canada, didn’t we?” Zayn asked to verify they had some manner of security.

“Yeah, like the east side of Canada too, so even if they do get interrogated, they won’t have the right information. Timothy is the only person that knows it’s America, but this is a huge place, so...”

Zayn took some time to ponder his words and then he sat up, crossing his legs and shoving his hands under his ankles. “But did we really need to go to those lengths? I mean, I know your Father is unreasonable, but what’s the worst he could really do?”

Harry shot him a look of annoyance and rolled his eyes at the question. “Zayn, the worst he could do is the worst he _would_ do. There’s nothing hypothetical about this. We get caught, we go to prison. It won’t matter how much protesting is done. It’s likely nobody would even find out, and we’d rot in a dungeon until Desmond was dead.”

“Do you think he has the guards looking? There hasn’t been a ‘King’s Son is Missing’ news story, but surely he’s doing something,” Zayn said, scratching his ear with his shoulder to the best of his ability.

“Of course there hasn’t. You think he wants this out there? The public shame of his Prince up and leaving right under his nose? No...I don’t think it will ever be announced, and that’s the only insured safety we have. But yes, they’ll be searching for us…just hopefully in Canada,” Harry sighed, wishing he hadn’t been born a Prince and was able to live life regularly.

“Should I put up a fight?” Zayn asked seriously because this hadn’t been specifically addressed yet. “If they find us, should I kill them?”

“And commit even more treason?” Harry challenged through an emotionless laugh.

“Are you saying we should go quietly?” Zayn clarified.

“No…not saying that…I guess we’ll just have to judge the situation if it comes to that. I mean, we can’t go back. I just found Louis—I’m not parting from him,” Harry declared with dedicated sincerity and passion behind his words.

“Well yeah, I’ve got my sights on Niall as well, but what if we end up putting them in danger? Or what if they lose us? That’s not a comforting thought.”

Harry had definitely come to this potential conclusion countless times today after biting the Omega, but nothing could sway him from his goal, and he laughed at his protector again. “Are you asking me to choose between my heart and my head? ‘Cuz it won’t do any good. My mind’s already made up.”

“Yeah. Mine is too,” Zayn agreed, lowering his face into his hands and rubbing it tiredly. “‘Course…I have another Alpha to get through before I can have Niall.”

“What!” Harry exclaimed, cackling at Zayn’s grave misfortune.

“Oh, some Alpha has been courting Niall,” Zayn said bitterly.

“Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh…” Harry laughed cynically. “ _Fuuuck_.”

“Shut up, Harry, I can take him,” Zayn growled, not appreciating his Prince’s rude reaction.

“I know you can…but still…that sucks so bad. Just rubbish,” Harry said after he’d calmed down.

“Whatever,” Zayn muttered, looking away so he wouldn’t accidentally punch his Prince in the face.

It was quiet for a few moments while the Alphas were locked in their minds until Harry erupted the silence with a groan, standing up and walking to the window. “What is it with these American Omegas anyway?” he asked out of frustration, “It’s not like everyone back home was completely uninteresting. There’s just something about _these_ two…it’s not because we’re in the same school…certainly not just because they’re Omegas—I’ve been around plenty. Taken quite a few to bed, too.”

“I don’t know,” Zayn replied honestly, plagued with the same confusion. “They’re just fantastic. I can already tell they’re gonna be superior to any other Omegas we’ve had on our knots before,” he said approvingly, fighting against a threatening boner.

“Don’t get me started,” Harry groaned, unfortunately getting lost in the same fantasies.

“God. Knotting. I can’t believe we Alphas can’t fuck on heats or ruts without getting Omegas pregnant anymore,” Zayn whined, taking off his shirt and throwing it in a random direction because he could.

“What the fuck are we gonna do in three years? Or however long until the birth control runs out?” Harry asked, opening his window and sitting on the ledge, lighting a cigarette and trying to wipe the angry expression off his face.

Zayn’s eyes went wide and he tiled his head up to stare at the ceiling, realizing the blunt truth of what they would have to do. “Breed them,” he replied simply.

Harry whipped his head around to gaze at the nervous Alpha and considered the reality. “I guess,” he said after about a minute of contemplation. “I wouldn’t mind pups with Louis.”

“Cut the crap,” Zayn scolded, laughing at Harry’s understatement. “ _Wouldn’t mind_? I know you’ve been thinking about that all day.”

“Piss off, Z,” the Prince growled, huffing when Zayn merely smirked at him from the bed. He took a drag and blew it out the window before hopping off and pacing the room with the cigarette in his lips. “Okay, I wanna breed him. I think he’d make a great Mother—”

“You’ve only known him for a day,” Zayn pressed, cutting Harry off and recoiling when the Prince bent down to chuck a rubik’s cube at him.

“Alright, smartass. What about Niall, then?” he goaded defensively.

“He’d be fantastic,” Zayn sighed with a far-off look on his dreamy face.

“Zayn!” Harry shouted incredulously, holding his hands out desperately, trying to convey Zayn’s hypocrisy to him.

“What!” Zayn shouted innocently, realizing what he’d just said and facepalming. “Ugh, fine. I see your point.”

Harry didn’t taunt him any further and sat back down at his window, unable to get comfortable no matter how he positioned himself. “I just feel like we’re too young to breed, you know? Even in three years when I’m twenty two. But…it’ll just be like how it used to be back in the day. If you were old enough to have heats, you were old enough to get fucked. Certainly old enough to have pups...but that’s so regressive in today’s society.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit primitive,” Zayn agreed, walking over to steal a hit off his master’s cigarette.

“If Mum were alive, this wouldn’t even be happening,” Harry said almost silently, staring at the moon in despair.

Zayn saw the Prince’s sadness begin to overtake him, so he rushed to lighten the mood. He threw the cigarette out the window, regardless of Harry’s affronted splutters, and dragged him back into bed. “Yeah, most definitely. She would have killed the King herself.”

Harry gave a tiny giggle and that was more than enough for Zayn, but the Prince had more to say. “Let’s not call him ‘King’ anymore. He’s not my King. He’s just a sad old matetaken man with nothing but anger in all the wrong places. He blames Mum’s death on the weakness of all Omegas, but she was wolfsick. There’s no medicine for that yet. She was really really sick, nothing could have been done. In any case, that’s absolutely no reason to discriminate against an entire gender.”

“We’re like humans now,” Zayn noted, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

“What,” Harry deadpanned, not making any kind of connection yet.

“Human men discriminate toward their women all the time. They pay them less, make their birth control extremely difficult to get, deny them the right to abort their fetuses, even at the sake of their _health_. They don’t give them long nesting periods—although I don’t think that’s what they’re called. I could be wrong though…and they even rape them. I mean, the list goes on,” Zayn said sadly, mourning for all the abused human women in the world.

“Rape is disgusting,” Harry snarled, almost gagging from how deplorable humans can be. “Even in rut, we Alphas would _never_ do that to an Omega. Even during their heats, no matter how intoxicating they may be. It’s out of the question. And human women don’t even _have_ heats.”

“I know,” Zayn agreed with a shudder.

“Is there any special time to impregnate them?” Harry asked curiously.

“Hmm…no, I think they can breed any time. I _think_.”

“Yikes, that’s rough…so they really need access to birth control then,” Harry said, feeling glad he wasn’t a human. Of course, he’s always glad about that, but…

“Heats are superior. So much more special,” Zayn said pridefully. “They don’t even bond either.”

“See, that’s just so boring. We’re worlds better,” Harry declared egotistically, forgetting what they had been previously discussing.

“Well, not anymore,” Zayn said darkly, jarring Harry back into their current problem.

“Oh, right. Of course. Fuck, lad. We’re doing the exact same fucking thing. We’re taking away Omegas’ rights just like human men. This level we’ve degraded to is far below the surface...it’s depressingly and shamefully low,” Harry bit, yearning for and wishing he had more power than he did.

“We’ve gotta fix it somehow.”

“How?” Harry asked helplessly, all ears to a magical solution.

“You’re the King’s _son_ , Harry. The Prince of our entire species. I don’t know how exactly, but someday you will right this wrong,” the protector said softly, rubbing Harry’s back as he said it to show he believed in him.

“Yeah, well…let’s just hope our kind isn’t discovered before then. There’s gonna be a lot of unwanted turnings by Omegas from their overly strong heats pretty soon. This is gonna get precarious,” Harry warned, fearing the discovery and extinction of his species all because of his stupid Father. “Is it bad that I can’t wait for Louis’? Even if the heat is forced on him?”

Zayn smiled and thought about Niall, equally excited for the future. “No, he’ll welcome his heat with you around,” he said suggestively.

“You’re too kind.”

“Loyal watchdog at your service, Prince Harry,” Zayn professed unnecessarily seriously.

“Ugh, cut the Prince crap out. Not here, I’m not,” Harry mumbled, having recently been getting nauseous every time he realized that he could have maybe stopped this if he’d tried hard enough, but fled the castle instead.

“You’ll always be my Prince, Harry. Sorry, but that’s here to stay,” Zayn said without room for disagreement, pulling Harry down to lie beside him.

“Just between us,” Harry grudgingly compromised.

“Of course.”

“Hey, wait,” Harry said suddenly. “How in the bloody hell are we gonna explain why we have a ludicrous amount of birth control in our closets?”

Zayn blanched and moved his mouth open and closed like a fish. “Fuck!” he settled on eventually. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Yeah, it’s just a tad bit unexplainable,” Harry said with a heavy heart. “So what the fuck do we tell them when we start knotting them?”

“Shit,” Zayn cursed again, shrugging his shoulders and growing a mischievous smirk on his face. “Can’t wait for you to figure it out.”

 

\---

 

“Timothy!” Dax roared as he smashed the doors to his room open, letting his guards file into the room and corner him against his dresser.

“What?” Timothy asked defensively, doing his best not to gulp like a wuss. “You’ve already questioned me, what the fuck do you want?”

“We’ve just finished interrogating all of the Prince’s inner circle, and do you wanna know what they all said? The pattern I picked up on?” Dax shouted challengingly, practically glowing with anger.

“Can’t wait to hear this,” Timothy sighed with an eyeroll, wincing when Dax punched a hole into the wall right next to his head. Clearly the Captain of the guard was not taking any shit tonight.

“They all mentioned that they weren’t as close to Harry as you were. Almost everyone said something along the lines of ‘Ask Timothy, he might know.' Needless to say, this was confessed in-between punches to the jaw, so I can only assume it’s true. And I thought to myself…you’re pretty tech savvy when it comes to the human world. You spend a lot of time on its internet, and you pay a lot of attention to its media and news. Doesn’t seem like too much of a leap to assume you had something to do with this...”

Timothy clenched his hands into shaky fists and gasped when Dax pulled a sword out of one of his guard’s sheaths and swung it to hover an inch away from his throat, making it clear he only had one chance. “You can’t do this,” he tried to grit confidently.

“Are you—hiding something?” Dax growled, pressing the sharp end of the sword against Timothy’s skin.

Timothy lost his will when he felt a line of blood drip down his neck, and his eyes betrayed him as they flew to his floorboards where Harry’s escape paperwork was hidden.

Dax was expertly trained in interrogation, and Timothy would even consider it a natural gift of his, so the bastard followed Timothy’s eyes quick as lightning, knowing that whatever had just happened was a huge tell. Timothy squeezed his eyes in shame as Dax walked right over to where his eyes had gone.

“What? What’s over here? Why did you look over here? Is something here?” Dax demanded, looking all around the area, including the floor and ceiling, coming to the best logical conclusion.

“No, there’s not,” Timothy lied, knowing it’s probably already too late for that kind of talk.

“Doubt that,” Dax snapped, raising the sword and slashing an angry crack into the floorboards. He dropped to his knees and ripped the board out, cackling when he found a group of papers. “Oh, you’re too easy, little Timmy. Too easy indeed,” he sang, standing with the papers and moving to the bed to inspect them.

“Harry’s gonna take the throne one day...and when he does, you’ll be _history_. You can count on that!” Timothy roared, disposing of the facade and rewardingly letting the Captain know of his _true_ thoughts if he might die anyway.

“Shut him up,” Dax said uninterestedly, finding much more fascination in the words on the pages than the loud ones that were reverberating against his ear drums.

Two of the Captain’s men moved in a flash to collide their fists into Timothy’s stomach, not bothering to catch the teenage Alpha as he crashed to the floor in pain.

Meanwhile, Dax was almost giggling from the juicy information he was beholding. King Desmond would certainly be interested in what these had to say. Printed paperwork from an American phone service deal in Virginia with the bloody phone number on it, and an American-made car purchase with its very license plate number in bold numbers, revealing itself like a streaker in broad daylight.

“America, huh? How the fuck were you dumb enough to keep evidence of all that you did for the Prince in your sodding room? Aiding a criminal of treason…you brainless dog. Lock him up.”

“No!” Timothy cried, his only chance of calling the Prince and warning him fading out of sight. “You’ll get yours, Daxel,” he snarled as he was quite literally lifted and carried away.

“Hope you had fun, Harry Styles,” Dax muttered, folding the papers in half and making a beeline for the King’s quarters. “Time to come home now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I noticed I never use the term wolfsick again in the story, and I didn't want to put in an authors note, cuz that's distracting - so I'll say it here. It's just a sickness I made up in my head that only affects alphas and omegas, and no animal medicine OR human medicine works, because they are neither, you know? It's like having pneumonia back in the day without antibiotics? It's not their common cold either, it's a serious virus that their doctors and such haven't found a cure for it. Dunno how she got it, but she did. Kay, moving on.


	3. The King's Son is Missing

Louis awoke when his phone alarm blared directly under his ear. He gasped as he was catapulted out of his sleep, and hastily turned it off before his ears started bleeding. He was disappointed to discover his phone only had 15% battery life, but more pressing for attention was the toy’s knot that was still inside of him.

The Omega moaned from the soreness of his hole and reached a tentative hand down to push the button that would loosen it. He whimpered as it was deflating and panted as he slowly pulled it out of him. The subsequent emptiness was haunting, and he shoved his cheeks together with his hands until his inner walls began contracting to close the gape. Luckily Omegas could fix this problem as fast as they could, otherwise he would definitely be late for school.

It probably only took about five minutes, Louis wasn’t counting, but eventually his hole went back to normal—only leaving behind a residual ache. That, he could deal with. He gingerly crouched down to pick out his clothes for the day, and dressed himself as delicately as he could.

He decided today was a day to break out feminine panties because they were more snug, and he needed pressure on his pelvic area or he would feel much too vulnerable throughout the day.

He decided black lace would suffice and he slipped his black boxers on over them, just in case some crazy emergency took place that he would somehow lose his pants in the process of. He yanked on the nearest pair of black jeans and dove into an oversized jumper that would be houndstooth if it wasn’t so messily patterned.

Louis realized all too late that he hadn’t done a single line of his homework, so he emptied his backpack onto his desk and got everything done he could for first period in the fifteen minutes left he had to spare. If a workless night happened to transpire, this was the general compensation. He would do the work for his first class at home, and then when he was actually in his first class, he would do the work for his second.

It’s a high-strung and stressful system, but it’s never led him astray before, so he jotted down every answer to the questions on the page and checked his book for the things he didn’t know. School textbooks were always so black and white to navigate because more often than not, the homework based off of it was directly made by the same company of the book. Meaning most of the answers would be blatantly bolded somewhere in the text.

When he called it close enough for government work, Louis stuffed everything back into his bag and dragged his keys off the desk, making his journey to the front door. Usually this would be the time where he would stop by the kitchen and take his morning suppressant, but the bastards in power had criminalized and recalled them at the end of the month, so he was shit out of luck.

The laws on the pills had already been strict to begin with. You only ever got the amount of suppressants for the days that were in that particular month, so there were never any extras lying around. They mailed the pills to you, which was the good thing, but he didn’t need to check his box to know it would be empty.

It made infuriating and perfect sense that they’d enact this ruling on the thirty-first of the month—this meant every Omega had taken their last one yesterday, just like he had.

Louis had about three days before they would completely drain out of his system, and he had absolutely no clue when his heat would follow. It could be a random time in the middle of the month, or it could be the very day the pills wore off, he had no inkling of a reference. That was the petrifying part. Because if you’ve been taking suppressants for years, you really don’t have any idea when your heat is actually being suppressed. You never feel it.

So obviously people were going to quit their jobs, or get themselves fired from being missing for five whole days...this was going to be ridiculous. And it was all because the King decreed Omegas should be subservient little housewives like their nature made them to be.

Louis hates the fact that he was partly in agreement, and he wished his feelings weren’t betraying him so shamefully. That was the really shitty part of this whole edict, and Louis knew he wasn’t alone in his indecisive opinions. Omegas everywhere would be absolutely appalled and furious about the unreasonable regulation as expected, but they’d be secretly happy about it too. Fuck Alphas. They know what they’re doing.

The grudgeful Omega drove to school marinating in his fuming anger and debilitating perturbation. He zoned out into auto-pilot so intensely that he didn’t even realize he’d gotten to school until he was turning his car off in his parking spot.

As he was wondering how he was still alive, Niall suddenly opened his door and jumped down into the passenger seat, furiously squeezing his stress ball and chewing his lip off.

“Do you have any suppressants?” the blonde desperately asked.

“Niall,” Louis exasperated, “you know I don’t. And as much as I love you, if I had any, I’d be using them,” he said, running his knuckles up and down Niall’s tightly flexed forearm.

“What are we gonna do? How are we supposed to get diplomas when we’re missing five or seven days out of every month? That’s like _one fourth_ of the month, Lou. Humans would never accept that, they have no idea what it’s like—what we go through,” he whined, dropping the ball and gripping his hair instead.

“I don’t know,” Louis replied honestly, resting the side of his face on his steering wheel. “We’re probably going to have to drop out.”

“But what about college? What about work? Having a life?”

“I get it, Niall…but they don’t _want_ us to live human lives. This is all to keep us at home,” Louis said bitterly, cursing all the dumb fucking Alphas in the world for messing with their lives so egregiously.

“ _Why_ , though?”

“I can only assume it’s to increase our population. So we’re not so outnumbered,” Louis guessed.

“But we’ll always be outnumbered. There are billions of humans, we’re only in the tens of millions...and they can procreate any time they want. That’s such a hopeless and brainless endeavor, I mean they really fucked up with this. They are prohibiting us from working so we can stay at home and get breeded all the time... Who wants that? I mean, I kind of do, but not really.”

“I know what you mean,” Louis admitted, nodding to himself because his hypothesis was just confirmed about the counteractive stances. “I mean, there’s always the occasional male Omega who quits work because he gets pregnant and disappears for nine months to nest and whatnot. Then he’ll reappear, usually in a different city, and everyone just assumes the Omega and his mate are a gay couple who adopted. That happens. But this is going to be everyone now. This affects everyone, not just male Omegas.”

“Louis, what are we going to do today?” Niall asked, internalizing everything Louis said but addressing a more personal problem.

“What do you mean?”

“Louis, there’re Alphas at this school. Harley and Zander. We might have been okay until our heats if we were just around humans, but they’re Alphas. All kinds of shit is gonna happen to us with them around. We’re gonna have to wear slick sponges, Lou. _Slick sponges_. That’s so degrading…and wildly uncomfortable. But I don’t even have any, how are we gonna make it through the day?” he asked fearfully.

“Okay, I’ll call them, just hang on,” Louis said, pulling out his almost dead phone and dialing Harley’s number that he’d already memorized just from seeing it pop up once yesterday evening when the Alpha called.

“What do you mean? What good is that going to do? We should be staying as far away from them as—”

“Hello?” Louis spoke into the phone, holding a finger up to Niall to shut him up.

“Yes, Louis?” Harley asked kindly, evidently in a car if Louis’ judging the background hum correctly.

“Niall and I are in a reasonable fit over being around you two today. We need your help,” he said, ignoring Niall’s scandalized expression.

“We’re almost at school, what parking lot are you in?” Harley responded.

“Lot D.”

“Alright, Lou. Stay there and watch for our car, then both of you hop into it, alright? We’ll take care of you,” he said, hanging up the line.

“What the _hell_ , Louis?” Niall yelled, frantically retrieving his much needed stress ball.

“We need them, Niall. We’re not going to be able to do this without their help, trust me. They’re our only salvation until our heat. We’ll figure out what to do when _that_ happens…when it happens.”

“What about Liam?” Niall asked, recalling Liam’s rather possessive texts to him last night.

“I don’t give a damn about Liam, Niall. That’s between you, Liam, and Zander. I can’t help there,” Louis said passively, too wrapped up in his own inconveniences.

They didn’t have to wait long before the Alphas’ pitch black Escalade rolled into the lot and parked in the row across from them under a pine tree. The Omegas collected all their things and exited the car, speed-walking under the tiny drops of rainfall to reach the Escalade that already had its two back doors open.

Louis and Niall climbed into the back seats and shut the doors, holding their breath in the overpowering Alpha aroma and unceremoniously dropping their bags onto the floor.

Zander and Harley were turned around in their seats to regard the Omegas behind them, and Louis knew _someone_ had to break the ice, so he figured he’d do it.

“Bite me,” he said entirely too bluntly, but Harley was a blunt Alpha.

The Alpha smirked and undid his seatbelt, somehow gracefully slipping through the middle of the front seats and standing hunched over with two hands on either side of Louis’ head. “Where?” he asked in a sultry whisper.

“Wherever you want,” Louis replied, forgetting that nervous little Niall was right next to them.

Zander held out his hand to the blonde and Niall eagerly took it, getting himself pulled to sit in the front seat, away from the inappropriately bantering couple.

Harley meanwhile was thinking hard about where he wanted his next bite to be, and Louis knew the instant he’d figured it out because a devious grin took over his features. Before Louis could ask him to hurry up because he felt the beginnings of slick secretion, Harley had already slammed him down across the seats and was hungrily pawing at the button and zipper of Louis’ jeans.

“Oh, holy fuck,” Louis moaned, getting the horrified look of Niall from the front seat.

Zander noticed the blonde’s tension and he rushed to ease his nerves. “Give me your arm,” he suggested, smiling when the Omega instantly obeyed. The Alpha pushed the sleeve of his jumper up until it was above his elbow and pointed to a spot right above it on the underside of his arm. “Is here good?”

“I-I wouldn’t know,” Niall stuttered, holding his breath as Zander took off his seatbelt and leaned over to get in his space.

“You’re not going to have any nonhuman bodily functions, and you will behave to fit in with the humans you’re surrounded by. You won’t cause any strange looks, because nothing will be happening to you. Your wolf will be asleep. Do you understand?” Zander asked the wide-eyed Omega.

“You can do that? Yes, I understand,” Niall added, knowing that last part was the deciding factor.

Zander smiled and extended his teeth, maintaining eye contact with the Omega the entire time as he bit into his upper arm. Niall gasped from the compulsion he was doused with, and the more he looked into the Alpha’s eyes, the calmer he became.

Meanwhile, Harley had been teasing the shit out of Louis because they were closer and more familiar with each other, but eventually the time for Harley’s bite came as well. The Alpha regrettably stopped nuzzling Louis’ fabric covered erection before he would actually have a fair amount of slick to clean up, and he pulled the bottom of the Omega’s boxers up to expose the innermost part of his thigh.

“Go to sleep,” Harley whispered softly into the skin before sinking his teeth into it and forcing the wolf into slumber.

Louis’ body and soul reacted violently to the Alpha’s renewed mark, having had it before and then losing it so quickly. Louis can’t truly imagine, but he assumed this was comparable to a drug-addict administering a hard drug to themselves after a day of abstaining from it—the rush of euphoria was indescribable.

Louis spread his legs further apart to give the Alpha more space, and he tangled a hand in Harley’s hair as his back arched at such an extreme angle that he was looking at the seat underneath him.

One of Harley’s hands was wrapped around the underside of Louis’ leg to hold it in place beneath his teeth, and the other one was simply resting on Louis’ chest that had slid up the Omega’s jumper just to feel his skin.

Louis’ hand that wasn’t holding Harley’s head to his thigh by his hair was covering the Alpha’s hand in the middle of his chest over the forest-green jumper.

The pair stayed like that for a good while until Harley was sure the Omega was of a calm mind, and he swallowed the blood in his mouth to take his teeth out and lick at the mark he’d made. The bell for their first class rang in the distance, so the Alpha regrettably didn’t get much time to admire his handiwork before he had to help the Omega get his pants back on.

The Alphas impressively got their freshly bitten Omegas out of the car and sluggishly made their way to Mr. Taylor’s class with the submissives under their arms. Niall had it decently easy even though it was his first time, because if he held his arm just right, the wool of his jumper wouldn’t rub it too harshly, but Louis…

Poor Louis was drowning in the immense magnitude of pleasure he was being nonstop pelted with from having a mark branded on his inner thigh. Every single step he took shot endorphins through his body, and it was way too close to his cock and hole for Harley’s bite to have done any sort of good. This was the opposite of helpful, but Louis wasn’t complaining. Even if he could…he doesn’t think he would.

Niall counted his blessings for having his in a more discreet location. Well…actually Louis’ was as discreet as one could get, but a more _manageable_ location, he’ll reiterate. As Niall and Zander fell into step behind the other two, the blonde saw Harley lean in and whisper something unintelligible into Louis’ ear that made the Omega suddenly straighten up and walk normally. God, this bonding business is weird.

“So controlling, Harley,” Zander muttered fondly under his breath, keeping his own Omega close as they neared the building.

 

~~~

 

“Disconnect from it. Don’t feel it until we get to class. It doesn’t exist,” Harley murmured into the limping Omega, smiling when he saw Louis’ eyes flash and his gait repair itself. “I missed you,” he added, taking a deep breath of Louis’ shampoo washed hair and uncovering the stronger scent hidden beneath it. “You smell mated like this.”

“I will be. Right now, I am,” Louis replied, clenching a tiny fist around Harley’s peacoat because he couldn’t stop himself.

“When’s your heat, Louis?” Harley asked, mentally crossing his fingers that it was soon.

“I have no idea. Off suppressants, it could come at any time.”

Harley cringed at himself for not knowing something so basic about Omega experiences, but he’s never had to worry about one’s before, so he’d never witnessed all the specifics in real time. “I want to bond you during your heat,” he said to deflect his ignorance.

Louis smiled at the declaration, but he couldn’t help the small frown that took over his face from being forced to have a heat at all. “Well, you can have me,” he said tonelessly.

Harley pursed his lips and fell silent before Louis could get any more worked up about the recent upheaval to strike the Omega gender. “Don’t stress,” he commanded in the nicest tone possible. This would hold him off for at least a couple more hours.

 

\---

 

Before Harry stepped into the classroom, he handed his backpack to Zayn and told the Alpha he’d be back in a minute. Zayn tried to follow him, but when Harry said he didn’t need his best friend to hold his dick while he pissed, his protector grudgingly accepted it.

Harry moved his long legs to the nearest restroom and flinched when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He knew he couldn’t answer it in the hallway, so he rushed his way inside the thankfully unoccupied stalls and yanked his phone out, answering it without looking.

“Hello?” he asked, knowing that it could only be one of the wolves in the classroom...or Timothy.

Silence.

“Helllooo?” he elongated, furrowing his eyebrows at the static he heard. Before he could call out one last time, an automated voice sounded through the line and spoke about home ownership and insurance companies. The content of the message didn’t apply to him really, but he remembered this is what is called a telemarketer, so he politely declined.

“Um, no thank you,” he said unsurely, of course realizing it was a robot he was denying, but figuring it might be recorded in their system or something. He pulled the phone away and got a glimpse of the number before the screen backed out after hanging up.

Or... what _would have been_ the number, but in its place were the words ‘Restricted Number,' so he shrugged his shoulders and slid the phone back into his pocket. “Now I know why people talk so much shit about that,” he said to no one, turning to walk out of the bathroom.

He slapped his forehead when he almost exited the place he needed to be for a reason, and spun right back around to take care of the initial mission.

 

\---

 

First class went significantly smoother in comparison to yesterday’s hysteria; now the only problem classes for the Omegas were the ones _without_ the Alphas, instead of the ones with them.

Louis and Niall had sat in front of their respective Alphas without a tinge of anxiety, floating through the hour on a cloud of hazy submission. They were able to get their work done flawlessly, and the presence of the wolves behind them did great measures for their complacency.

Lunch is where it got a bit more complex because the effects had started to lessen in intensity. Not wear off, just subtle outbursts of independence that would shine through every once in awhile. Louis was the current speaker of the mentioned outburst as the four wolves were sat at their bench eating lunch.

“I wanna kill that fucking King,” Louis growled, shoving his sandwich in his mouth like he would shove a knife into the King’s neck. Or better yet… “You wanna know what I’d do?” he asked his audience, only getting an eager encouragement from Niall, “I would choke him to death. With my empty bottle of suppressants. In his throat.”

Niall chuckled and muffled that he would do the same through a mouthful of food, but that was the only reaction he got. Zayn was busy looking at Harry in concern because the Prince appeared to be crushed under the weight of his personal connections to the issue. The protector nudged him in the shoulder to keep him talking, and Harry snapped out of it.

“You know you could get arrested for saying things like that,” Harry said disapprovingly, regardless of whether he’s way worse off criminally than Louis is.

“You’re sticking up for him? You don’t actually agree with what he’s done, do you?” Louis asked suspiciously, knowing he wouldn’t survive if Harley said yes.

“Of course not!” the Alpha snarled, surprising all three of the wolves around him. “You don’t honestly think I’d be fine with such a terrible fucking thing! Never in my life would I support such a damaging decision, and I wouldn’t ever stand by it. Even if it cost me my freedom,” he declared, getting a subtle pinch in the side from a wary Zayn.

“Wow, uh…thank you,” Louis said awkwardly, attempting to decode why Harley was so passionate about it when it didn’t affect him as much.

“Hmph,” Harry huffed, turning his attention to his phone and holding back a screech at what he found on the news page. “Zayn-der,” he gritted, poorly tripping over his name save and jumping up to glide a safe distance from the confused Omegas, his watchdog instantly following behind.

“What the fuck,” the Prince whisper-shouted, thrusting the phone in Zayn’s face and glancing around them like he might find royal guards posted in every shadow.

Zayn looked like he was about to vomit when he read the ‘King’s Son Is Missing' and ‘Worldwide Search For Harry Styles’ articles that were littering their media. The very articles the two Alphas had assumed would never see the light of day. The only thing that had been giving them cover from the general public.

“This is fucking terrible,” Harry breathed, looking back at the Omegas that were thankfully in their own little world.

Zayn began to hand the phone over to Harry when something caught his eye and he snatched it right back. ‘Harry Styles and Accomplice, Zayn Malik: On The Run.' “Shit, I’m here too,” he said desolately, having a sudden desire to buy a mustache for disguise. Maybe even one of those glasses and mustache combination sets—anything to get him out of sight.

“What the fuck…do we do?” Harry whimpered, taking his phone and stuffing it in the pocket of his peacoat, finger-walking his free hand into the other one and hiking his shoulders up to fight the cold breeze blowing down his neck.

“We don’t say anything to the Omegas if that’s what you mean. Luckily it’s illegal to publish pictures of our royalty, the public doesn’t even know what Desmond looks like, and he’s the King. They can’t do shit to _actually_ expose us—not with our fake names, at least. I think we might be okay, but this does amp the pressure,” Zayn said, effectively calming the Prince down enough to face the Omegas without sweating bullets from nerves.

“Yeah…yeah, they don’t know what we look like. We’ll be fine,” Harry reiterated, more to himself than anyone else, as he shuffled his way back to the bench.

The Alphas did their best to keep the bantering light and happy, showering their Omegas with support and encouragement so the beauties could make it through the rest of the day. Bite marks will generally fade on their own after about twelve hours of separation between the marker and the recipient, so the Alphas knew that every day they saw the Omegas, they’d have to redo the bites. Nobody was complaining about this…

 

\---

 

Louis walked through the door to an immediate announcement from his family, but this time it was only Lottie. He didn’t fight getting dragged through the hallway to the kitchen this time, and just stared at the new paper on the table with careful trepidation. “The King’s son?” he asked after reading the words.

“You don’t think it’s odd that Harry Styles and Zayn Malik suddenly go missing, and then Harley and Zander show up from England?” Lottie pressed knowingly, like she’d figured something out.

“You’re insane,” Louis brushed off, dropping his backpack on a chair and walking to the fridge to quiet his stomach. “Besides, they just went missing. Harley and Zander have been here for a while.”

“You obviously don’t understand how news works, do you?” Lottie sassed, rereading the article and nodding to herself. “I think it’s worth looking into.”

“Whatever, I’m going to bed,” he said casually, grabbing a premade sandwich and saluting her on his way out of the kitchen, his backpack being dragged across the floor behind him.

As soon as the Omega shut his bedroom door, he let his face morph into the shell shocked expression he’d wanted to make ever since Lottie had mentioned the similarities. He unlocked his phone and typed Niall’s number as quickly as he could manage, only having to backspace twice before it was singing the dial tone.

Niall answered on the second ring and began to say "hello" when he was immediately cut off by Louis, who didn’t have time for that formality bullshit.

“Niall. The King’s son is missing,” he said directly, impatiently waiting for the blonde’s response.

“So?”

“SO! You know the King is in England. The Prince and his closest friend or whatever are missing.”

“Yeah, but…what does that have to do with anything over here?”

“What do you _mean_!” Louis shouted incredulously, “Listen, their names are Harry and Zayn. Harry and Zayn? Harley and Zander? From England? Do you really not see the connection here?”

“What, do you honestly think Harley is Prince Harry?” Niall challenged with a giggle, obviously not convinced at all.

“Yes? Okay, look, they show up out of nowhere, they drive a nice car, wear expensive clothing, they’re from _England_ if I haven’t mentioned that yet, and then Harley got super passionate about not supporting what the King was doing?” he listed, just as a few examples as to why this could be possible.

“Well…alright, I’ll admit their names are pretty similar.”

“Also, even my Mom said that Alphas shouldn’t be able to put an Omega’s wolf to sleep if they’re not mated to the Omega they’re doing it to, but that’s exactly what he did to me. She said something like it takes an incredible amount of power to pull off—power that the Prince and his guard would surely have, right?” Louis implored, begging Niall to connect the dots as well so he didn’t sound like such a conspiracy theorist.

“Louis…do you remember earlier today? When they walked away and hovered over Harley’s phone like scared animals at lunch? What if they were looking at the article that was published? What if… _Louis_ , didn’t…didn’t Harley call Zander ‘Zaynder’ by mistake? I didn’t understand it at the time…holy—”

“ _Shit_ ,” Louis finished for him, both Omegas now neck deep in receipts that painted Harley and Zander as Harry and Zayn of the Wolf Empire.

“I can’t think about this anymore, or I’m gonna explode. I need to take a nap or something, this mark is wearing me out without Zander around,” Niall yawned, making shuffling sounds that could be heard through the phone.

“You mean Zayn?” Louis corrected.

“Fuck…maybe. I don’t know.”

“We shouldn’t tell them, right? Let them think they’re still being sneaky?” Louis asked, burrowing under his covers to sleep as well. Looks like tomorrow morning will be filled with hastily scribbled homework again. So be it.

“Are we even sure, though?” Niall challenged, knowing in his heart they were probably right.

“I suppose not completely...but either way, we shouldn’t let them know we’re suspecting anything.”

“Do you think they’ll be able to tell? They’re Alphas, and strong ones at that. What if they see through us?”

“One day at a time, Niall,” Louis said helpfully, “They won’t be mad, I don’t know what you’re so afraid of. I just want to let them expose themselves...see if we can’t get the truth before they admit anything. It’s like a game!”

“How are we not freaking out that we may be affiliating with the Prince and his second in command? Of the whole _Empire_?” Niall asked in mind-boggling confusion.

“'Cuz we’re still under their control. We don’t have the ability to really let it all out. We will at some point... I suppose we’re lucky, because otherwise I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at all,” Louis sighed, getting tired of this conversation in general.

“True. Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Niall said.

Louis hummed his contribution to the goodbyes and ended the call, plugging in his phone this time and rolling over away from the window. He was unfortunately still awake and he wanted to test Harley’s power, so he shimmied out of his jeans and stared at the mark on his inner thigh in concentration. He had this wild idea that if he could maybe communicate how tired he was to his Alpha, Harley might be able to put him to sleep. It was a longshot, but he had to try.

The Omega furrowed his eyebrows and slapped a hand down on the mark, gasping but keeping his mind focused on the bond.

 

~~~

 

Harry and Zayn were sitting in the Prince’s room as they formulated plan after plan. Every possible scenario of getting discovered, and how they should handle every hypothetical encounter with the King’s guards. Harry was in the middle of a sentence when he felt a huge wave of exhaustion wash over him, but he knew at once that it wasn’t his own.

“Harry?” Zayn asked when the Prince began to sway where he was sitting.

“It’s Louis. He’s figured out how to use the bond,” the Prince said in surprise, very proud that the little Omega was already taking charge of his abilities and using their connection to command his Alpha to satisfy him. “He’s tired. Alright, Louis,” Harry said, though it wouldn’t be heard, closing his eyes and focusing on shooting compulsive energy back.

 

~~~

 

Louis felt it take effect immediately and smiled to himself as he got dragged under the surface of consciousness. “Nice one, Harry,” he whispered.

 

~~~

 

“Sorry about that,” Harry chuckled, tying his hair up in a bun while Zayn shrugged his shoulders in an easy-going manner.

“No matter…but tell me more about that phone call,” he said sternly, steering them back to the topic at hand.

“I don’t know…it was automated, and it happened when I went to the bathroom.”

“I knew I should have gone with you. Dick holding or not, I shouldn’t ever leave your side, you’re too stupid for the real world.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed to slits and he slowly turned his head to glare at the instantly regretful Zayn.

“Ah! I mean…not stupid...er—I’m eternally sorry, my Prince,” Zayn whined, smashing his face into the mattress in the deepest bow he could manage while sitting.

“Oh, get up Zayn,” Harry growled, pulling him back up by his hair and rolling his eyes, “What the fuck do you mean?”

“Well…you shouldn’t ever answer any unrecognized number. Telemarketers have I think 1-800 numbers here. It’s outside of my knowledge if they are allowed to block their numbers or not, but something’s telling me that doesn’t happen. What if it was England? You have to think about every possible...possibility,” Zayn said with an air of authority, pulling another eye roll out of the Prince.

“Nobody has this number,” Harry argued, falling onto his back and interlocking his fingers behind his head.

“Timothy has that number,” Zayn challenged, feeling worse about this bathroom mystery call by the second.

“Well, let’s just get new ones then.”

“The damage may already be done…but yeah, that’s the best idea. We should lie low for a week. We’ll go to the phone place tomorrow morning, and then hibernate for a while,” Zayn announced as he stood and put his jacket back on, collecting his things to go home until morning.

“Zayn,” Harry said quietly, halting all of his protector’s movements.

“Yes, my Prince?” he asked as he dropped his bag without a second thought.

Harry frowned and looked off to the side, unwilling to admit a weakness, but knowing Zayn wouldn’t lecture him on royal expectations about it. “Stay with me tonight?”

Zayn smiled sweetly and shrugged out of his jacket, wordlessly accepting the request and sliding himself under the covers, throwing a courageous arm around his Prince.

Harry sighed and turned away, keeping the arm around him. Zayn got the picture and cuddled up to his back, moving the Prince’s hair so he wouldn’t sneeze all night, and holding him close.

Harry grumbled indignantly, but it was obvious that he was satisfied with the outcome, and he reached a long arm out to flick the lamp off and pull the comforter over them. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry answering the phone *facepalm* NUUUU, Harry. BAD IDEA.


	4. I Knew It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, it's stuffy in here. Must be the *HEAT* aha badum tss, spoiler.

When Niall and Louis arrived at school the next morning, they were concerned to discover their Alphas were missing. Louis checked his phone for any missed calls, but it was blank. _Odd,_ he thought quizzically.

It was stressful with or without the Alphas present, and of course the Omegas missed them, but at least they wouldn’t have to worry about getting a bite to prevent slicking in their chairs.

They snored through their classes in a school that was devoid of Alphas, and spent lunch mostly in silence as they attempted to text their Alphas.

Niall was having a harder and harder time trying to manage Liam at the same time, but no matter how much Louis advised him to just pick one, Niall still felt that something would be missing with just one. It sounded extremely selfish, even to his ears, but he appreciated both of them. Liam was a close friend and formerly a potential mate, and even though Zander nearly took that spot for himself, Liam was still someone important.

The only reason Louis didn’t know him very well was because Niall and Louis went to different elementary and middle schools. Niall had known Liam since he was a small kid, so it felt like a lot to ask for to just drop him simply because another Alpha had swooped in. Liam deserves more than that. Least of all, an explanation, but that was proving to be intimidating concept.

 

\---

 

The Omegas started to worry when several days had flown by and there was still no sign of their Alphas. Fortunately when they went home on the last night of the week, they’d both gotten a text from two unknown numbers, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out it was Harley and Zander. So, their numbers had changed for some reason...

This made Louis a thousand times more suspicious about their true identity. The changing of a phone number seemed like an applicable thing to do if one was hiding from something, does it not? Like the _Empire_ , perhaps?

All the texts had really said was that they missed them, and they’d be back at school some time tomorrow, so the Omegas were stressfully overjoyed. Stressful because they would need more bites to fight the urges the Alphas produced within their bodies, and overjoyed because…well, that’s an obvious one.

 

\---

 

The next day rolled around and Louis jumped out of bed from his alarm faster than he even left his dream. The Omega was stoked that he would see Harley/Harry today—maybe he would finally get some answers.

His contagious enthusiasm and determination were both ebbed away with the feeling that crept into his body like a drop of water rolling down the glass of an iced beverage. It started in his head and worked all the way down into his feet, setting in what felt like a feverish hangover. The dreaded hypothesis sprung into his mind that this might be early signs of a heat, but if that were the case, he still had another day or so before it would fully hit him.

He didn’t remember too much because he’d been taking suppressants for so long, but he was pretty confident he’d be fine today, if he could just get through it with Harry’s help. He might have to miss school tomorrow, and he only had a few sick days out of the year that he could make use of, so he vowed to get as much work done as possible in the time he had left. The day would come when he’d be forced to drop out of school, but maybe with Harry, he could stay a bit longer.

See, he’s already calling him Harry now in his head. What more proof could he need?

He fanned his sweaty face and flicked his fan on, bending over in front of its blades and letting the air wash away the uncomfortable warmth. Of course, this only made it worse when he pulled away, but he didn’t have much time. He reluctantly turned it off and headed to the bathroom for his morning routine, plopping his History book onto the sink while he brushed his teeth so he could read last night’s material that he should have read, but failed to.

When no more procrastinating could be done, he called a half-assed goodbye to his parents and jogged out to his car in the bitingly cold air. His car was way worse off in temperature; it was like sitting down into a damn igloo, and his windows were completely iced over. He turned the key as many times as it took before the car grudgingly came alive, and set to work on his frozen windshield.

He only got the driver’s side of it scraped off when his alarm titled ‘last chance, I’m not kidding,' echoed through the neighborhood with its blaring Whitney Houston song clip.

What? As if that wouldn’t wake anyone up.

He sighed and surrendered to fickle time itself, convincing himself that the little rectangle of vision he had through his car was enough to safely get to school.

 

\---

 

Louis met Niall in the parking lot like he always does, but there was little time to chat on this particular late morning. The few words they got in was Niall informing him that the Escalade was nowhere to be found, and that he’s had no contact that would make him believe that Harry and Zayn would be here like they said.

This was a bit frustrating, but Louis held strong faith in the face of it. He just had this unshakable feeling that if those two Alphas said they were going to do something, they were going to do it, and nothing would be able to stop them. Time will tell…

The whole first class went by without the Alphas proving Louis right, and Niall was looking more morose by the second. The heat-like feeling in Louis’ body was a constant nag, but he had his Omega friend who admitted he felt much the same way, so he felt stronger. Suffering is always easier with a buddy to share it with.

Second class rolled around, and the Omegas parted with great difficulty, each going to their separate classes and falling into their desks. One whiff of the class, and Louis knew that the Alphas still weren’t here. The light sadness he had before was well on its way to becoming vivid irritation, so he closed himself off from the hurt and focused on his History assignment. Some bullshit Q&A paper for the section that Louis had blown through this morning in the bathroom, so maybe he had an upper-hand. It was fresh in his mind.

It was timed of course, and as soon as everyone turned in what they could finish, Mr. Eby saw no issue in commencing the most boring lecture he’s ever managed to date.

Louis was zoning out hard when his nose picked up a hint of something that made his wolf spring to life and whip its head around inside of him. He desperately needed to let this thing out soon, or it was going to force itself. He hadn't let his wolf stretch its legs in a very long time, and he made the decision he'd do it soon. Maybe head to the forest for a little critter hunting, but he couldn’t think about that now.

All he could focus on was the classroom door. He was willing the thing to open because he knew that smell. They were definitely here without a doubt. The scent got closer and closer, and Louis held his breath in anticipation until it finally swung open and the Alphas apologetically swept into the room.

Mr. Eby had a bitch fit about the tardiness, but Louis was now drowning in a much more stressful mindset than that. Harry’s eyes wandered from the lecturing teacher to lock onto Louis, and the Omega saw his lips part in shocked concern, but the Alpha diverted his gaze before anything else could be wordlessly communicated.

Louis had half a mind to demand why he was being ignored, and he’ll never understand why he didn’t shout right then and there. Self-preservation, probably. He let the Alphas walk down their rows without looking at them once, not giving them the satisfaction of superiority. He could do just fine without them, after all, he has for four days now.

There’s only so much inward lying Louis could do before he cracked, though. His Omega body clearly had other plans. Louis was _not_ fine, and he was wholly inferior to the pull of his instincts—that was quickly becoming apparent. The longer he took in Harry’s scent, the more adamant his early heat became.

The Alphas were regarding Louis nervously, as though he would turn at a moment’s notice and Harry would lose control and shift as well, knotting the Omega in the middle of the damn class.

Okay, maybe that's more Zayn’s concern, but he doesn’t think it’s all that improbable. Looking at his Prince, Zayn noticed that he was putting every shred of his focus into fighting himself, and they all needed to get out of here before this turned into something unredeemable.

“Harry,” he hissed, pulling at the Prince’s sleeve in a feeble attempt to tear him away from his target.

“He’s in heat,” Harry said under his breath, panting harder with every inhale he took of the sweet air.

“Harry, you need to get out of here. Take Louis with you, take the car, I don’t care, just get him out—” Zayn paused when he noticed another scent flow into his nostrils. A sweeter one that he knew better, and now it was his turn to panic. “— Holy shit, Niall too.”

“I’m gonna take Louis, and he’s gonna decide where he wants to go, and I’m gonna take him there. You wait for my instructions, and grab Niall when you know you absolutely have to,” the Prince said surprisingly presently for his current one-track mind.

“Got it,” Zayn whispered, turning his head back to the window to inhale as much of Niall as he could and start working on discerning his exact location.

Louis had wrapped his arms around his sides and was gripping them as hard as he could. Slick was a given, and he only had about a few minutes left before his inner walls would start to push apart to prepare his body for a knot. Ah, shit—he thought about the word knot.

Louis was quickly sprinting toward the point of no return and he started shaking as full blown heat began to overtake him. It only took one desperate look back at Harry, and a silent whine that only wolves could hear, for the Alpha to spring into action and save his damsel in distress.

Harry left his things for Zayn to take care of, and took a few hunched over leaps to Louis’ desk while Mr. Eby was writing something on the whiteboard. “Louis, baby, come on. We gotta go,” he said hurriedly, scrambling to get all of the Omega’s belongings into his bag before the proximity sent him over the edge and damned them both.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Mr. Eby asked as he crossed his arms and tried to appear intimidating.

Harry didn’t respond because he simply didn’t care, but luckily his protector had his back once again.

“Louis’ having another anxiety attack,” Zayn called from the back, “Let him take him to the office.”

Mr. Eby looked at Harry while he put Louis’ bag around the Omega’s shoulders, as if to verify Zayn’s claim was true, and Harry nodded as he heaved Louis up under his arm and started dragging him out. They almost ran the history teacher down because the space was so narrow, but there was still nothing that could get Harry to give a fuck.

Once they were outside, Harry got in front of the Omega and pulled his delicate hands over his shoulders, shaking them a bit to convey he wanted Louis to jump onto his back. Unfortunately, the Omega’s energy was draining faster than air being released from a balloon, so Harry had to take matters into his own hands.

The Alpha bent his knees and leaned over, pulling Louis’ wrists forward to slide him up his back. Once Louis was laying horizontally, the Omega automatically hooked his ankles around Harry’s hips, and all the Alpha had to do was straighten, and then they were good to go. “Louis, where do we go?”

“Niall,” Louis whimpered back, knowing that his friend was in this danger too.

“We’re gonna get Niall, but where can we meet him? In the parking lot?”

“Upstairs,” Louis said, lacking the confidence that he could make it all the way to the parking lot without some kind of incident. “Upstairs. Top floor bathroom. Hurry, please.”

Harry acted instantly and changed their course to the dusty staircase that would eventually take them to the top floor. They tripped and stumbled their way up the stairs until they were finally in the complete privacy of the bathroom, and when Louis jumped down, Harry backed him up against a wall to comfort him.

“I don’t—I don’t have much time,” Louis panted, shoving his arms up to curl them around the Alpha’s neck while he pressed himself closer.

“I know, baby. Zayn has to get Niall, and then we’ll go to my house, okay?” he soothed, running his hands up and down the Omega’s sides.

“I’m so wet,” Louis moaned, holding back tears of frustration.

Harry groaned into the Omega’s neck and his hands lowered to grope at Louis’ magnificent arse, just barely brushing over the evident wet spot between his legs. “Fuck,” he breathed, losing control and hiking one of Louis’ legs up on his waist to grind their hips together.

They were sadly interrupted when Zayn burst into the bathroom with an under the weather looking Niall. The second the blonde was hit with the full force of Louis’ pheromones, he went limp in Zayn’s arms. “That’s really strong…heat,” he whined, on the verge of falling under like his best friend was about to.

“Shit,” Zayn cursed, looking to the Prince for guidance because he had no clue what to do himself.

“We bite them,” Harry said, both Omegas perking up in interest from the suggestive statement.

“That gives us about a minute _tops_ , Harley. We’re like five minutes away from our car, what are we supposed to do with one measly minute?” he challenged, setting Niall next to Louis on the wall and standing against him like Harry was doing.

“It’s the only choice we have, Zander. We’ll never get them down these stairs without causing a scene. I think we’re gonna cause a scene anyway, but we can just bite their wrists when nobody’s looking,” the Prince declared, making eye contact with Zayn and daring him to come up with a better idea.

“Oh, fuck. Alright,” Zayn sighed, pushing Niall’s sleeve up and biting into his exposed shoulder.

Harry did the same because they were pressed for time, but with Louis, he had to push the collar of his jumper off his shoulder to reach it.

Once both of the true Omegas were temporarily repressed, all four wolves burst out of the bathroom and took the stairs down three at a time, in a mad dash to the parking lot before the effects wore off.

“No running!” they heard called from a classroom they blew by, obviously not paying it any mind. They sprinted through the intricate hallways of the high school, and the Alphas noticed their Omegas were panting from the over exhaustion, so they hid behind a corner to let the submissives catch their breath.

Omegas aren’t very active creatures to begin with, but the main problem here was the heat that was coming back with a vengeance.

“Shit, they’re not gonna make it,” Zayn said, scoping the area to verify it was empty of humans before digging into Niall’s pale wrist with his teeth.

“Just a little bit longer, Lou,” Harry said comfortingly, marking Louis’ wrist the same way.

They all immediately set off toward the car again, this time getting stopped by a hall monitor who was hungry for punishing. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he asked with a serpentine tilt of his head.

“Home,” Harry answered, fiercely growling when the Argus Filch looking man grabbed Louis’ arm in an effort to keep them there.

The man released Louis like the arm had burned him, hopelessly confused as to why another human being just growled at him like an animal. “You think this is some kinda joke?”

Zayn grabbed the back of Harry’s jumper and pulled hard, needing to keep them all moving toward their destination, or another re-stock of hormones would have to be administered. That’s probably going to happen anyway, but it definitely can’t be in the presence of this human.

Harry didn’t quite know what to do, but he knew he had a bunch of American money in his pocket, so he pulled it out and flung it above the man’s head. The Alpha watched as the human’s eyes flashed with glee from being showered with money, so they quietly took their leave while he was distracted.

The Alphas had to stop once more to re-do their bites, but then the parking lot was finally in view. They’d had to park further than they usually do because they’d arrived so late, but the end was in sight, and they were going to get there.

The Omegas lost their control before they could get to the car, but the Alphas just kept running, holding their little bodies up and dragging them along. The submissives had done such a good job at holding in their noises, but the closer to safety they got, the more the whines started pouring out.

“Almost there, Lou,” Harry said into the Omega’s hair, trying with one hand to fish through all his pockets for the keys.

“I have them,” Zayn called when he realized what the Prince was trying to do. He got them out and furiously clicked the unlock button until there was no way it hadn’t worked.

Harry and Louis reached the car first, and the Alpha threw Louis in the backseat as he climbed in after him. Harry’s nose was assaulted by the scent of a nearby Alpha right away, but he knew Zayn would handle whomever it happened to be, so he got to work on preparing his Omega for the drive.

The Prince shoved his upper half through the break in the front seats and got a plug out of the glove box, quickly returning to the squirming Louis and presenting the object to him. “Lou, I’m gonna put this in you, okay? Can you put your arms around my neck and hold on?”

Louis’ eyes went wide and he did as he was told, using his weakened muscles to stay up while Harry shimmied his jeans down just enough so that they were around his mid-thighs.

The Alpha was delighted to discover the Omega was wearing lace panties, rather than the traditional boxer briefs he’d been expecting. There would be a time to marvel at them, but it wasn’t now. He only had to pull those to the side to expose Louis’ hole, and with a groan from the Omega, he pushed the plug through his entrance until it was firmly nestled inside of him.

Harry then rushed to put Louis’ pants back on, but he didn’t bother with zipping them. The Alpha ripped off the belt from his pants and tied Louis’ feet to the bar under his seat, knowing that if he wasn’t constricted, there would be problems. Like jumping into the front seats mid-drive, for instance.

“What are you doing?” Louis moaned, furrowing his eyebrows as he observed Harry’s restrictive actions.

“You’ll like it,” Harry assured, moving on to Louis’ hands next, “This is something you need.”

Louis was confused why his wrists were being held in one strong hand, but it became clear when the Alpha pulled handcuffs out of absolutely nowhere, and clasped them on the Omega’s forearms. Why the Alpha had them, Louis didn’t know—he didn't ask, either.

The last thing Harry did was pull Louis’ seatbelt across to click it down, but that wasn’t enough. The Alpha grabbed ahold of it and quickly yanked it back until it locked, letting it re-tighten itself to really keep Louis still.  

The Omega instantly started struggling against all his ties, but the Alpha took a hold of his chin and brought their faces closer so he’d have to focus on him.

“No, stop it. Hey, look at me. You’re  confined, and there’s absolutely no point in wiggling. This is what's best for the both of us—and I’m sorry, but you can’t go anywhere, so just accept it, okay? Doesn’t it feel snug?” he purred, effectively drowning out Louis’ inner screams to break free.

Louis began rolling his hips to push the toy as far in as it would go, and the Alpha groaned at the sight and connected their lips in a blur of passion.

 

~~~

 

As soon as Harry and Louis jumped into the car, Zayn froze when he detected a foreign Alpha, and his eyes shot to the brown-haired wolf that was sprinting toward their car.

Niall smelled it too, but to him it was very familiar, and he followed the Alpha’s eyes to see Liam of all people, his heart sinking at the awkward situation that was about to unfold. “Liam!” he called, shocking Zayn right out of his mind.

“What!” Zayn shouted, looking back and forth between the two wolves and shoving Niall behind him. _So this is the bastard,_ he thought icily.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my Omega?” Liam demanded, letting out a growl when the stranger stood protectively in front of Niall.

“He’s not your anything, you brute. Get the fuck away from me, this is not the time,” Zayn snarled, backing both of them up to open the back door.

“If he’s in heat, then it is indeed the time,” Liam argued, trying to reach out for Niall and hoping he would respond.

“I’m sorry, Liam,” Niall whined as he got lifted into the backseat.

Zayn barked at Harry to put the Omega’s seatbelt on and then slammed the door closed. Liam dove forward and slapped a hand on the intruding Alpha’s shoulder, but he was shoved back with a harsh elbow to his chest. Before Liam could try to advance again, the Alpha had pulled out a gun from somewhere in his jeans and was pointing it directly at his face.

Liam froze and stared down the arm that held the weapon, getting a look at Zayn’s dangerously dark eyes and deciding not to push his luck.

When Zayn was positive that the Alpha wouldn’t try anything stupid, he flicked his wrist to tilt the gun up and away from the target. He turned and opened the driver’s side door, tossing the weapon on the passenger seat and calling back for Harry. “Harley, get up here, we gotta go.”

Harry kissed Louis one last time and squeezed through to get to the front of the car, his eyes widening when he saw the firearm sitting innocently on the leather seat. He met Zayn’s eyes expectantly, but Zayn had an expression that blatantly stated “Not now,” so he let it go and carefully removed it before sitting down.

The Prince snuck it into the glove box before the Omegas could see, and Zayn turned the engine on; drifting a reverse and peeling out of the lot to get on the main road.

The atmosphere was already getting impossible to deal with, and what’s more, that Liam Alpha had evidently taken it upon himself to follow them with his car, knowing damn well that Zayn could kill him if he wanted to.

“Niall, how do you feel about Liam?” Zayn asked over his shoulder, trying to be heard over Louis’ incessant whining, who was much deeper in his heat than the blonde was.

“I’ve known him since we were kids. I never really wanted anything with him, I felt like something was missing. It wasn’t right,” Niall said with great difficulty because his body was putting him through hell.

“I’m not good with sharing. You should know that,” the Alpha warned, very put off by this competition situation. “I want you for myself, but if I were in his position, I’d understand. Who do you want?”

“Who do I—I want both of you,” Niall gasped, overcome with the idea of having two Alphas all to himself.

Zayn’s eyes squinted in anger, but if this is what he had to do, he would try. “We’re not gonna be best friends—and that’s if he even agrees. I just want you to be happy, and as an Alpha, that’s my number one priority. No matter what.”

Harry made a bunch of condescending noises at him and dodged the fist that cut through the air. Louis was still outright sobbing, so the Prince turned around in his seat so he could see the little beauty. “Hey, Lou. We’re about six minutes away, so it won’t be long, okay? Are you alright?”

Louis found the strength to glare at him with a fiery intensity, but what he really wanted to do was break free and climb into his lap. “Alright? Yeah, sure. I’m absolutely—fine,” he panted, squirming in his seat and screeching when the plug pushed against a new spot in his inner walls.

“Jesus, what is going on with him? Even for heat, he’s awfully wily. Even Niall seems to be having an easier time,” Zayn questioned, stealing a glance at the desperate Omega and widening his eyes at his severely measured confinements.

“Eyes on the road, Zayn-der,” Harry stuttered again, mentally slapping himself so Zayn wouldn’t have to, “He’s plugged.”

“Oh, well that makes sense, then,” Zayn noted, tightening his grip on the steering wheel because both of the Omegas’ pheromones were getting too thick to casually breathe in.

“Zander,” Niall whimpered, his scent getting stronger by the second and beginning to match Louis’.

“You feel worse, huh? Just a little while longer. I promise you, I’ll take good care of you,” Zayn said, reaching a hopeful hand around the back of the seat to find a knee or something. He succeeded in locating a leg and he rubbed at it to give the Omega some contact. These last four minutes were going to be a lifetime.

 

\---

 

They finally skirted into the driveway and flung themselves out of the car so they could get to the Omegas before the poor things had heart attacks.

“I’m so sorry, Louis. We’re here now, I’m gonna make it all better,” Harry soothed, undoing the belt around his ankles first and working his way up. He used the chain of the cuffs to coach Louis out of the car, and then undid them once the Omega was standing. Louis was shaking way too much to stay upright, and Harry cooed and caught him as he fell, lifting him in his arms and kicking the car door closed.

Harry noticed that Zayn was about to have a lot of problems with the Alpha who was speeding down the street to get to them, and he whispered in his protector’s ear as he passed. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” Zayn replied, pushing Harry to keep going, “I can handle this. Go claim your mate.”

Harry didn’t wait a second longer and briskly walked to his front door, juggling Louis with one arm to get to his keys, and disappearing inside once he’d gotten them to work, leaving Zayn to face his predicament on his own.

As soon as they were in the privacy of his home, Louis let go and all of his repressed whines came out at once in a desperate cry for help. The Omega was so torn because he wanted Harry’s knot more than anything, but he was only nineteen years old, and having pups wasn’t something he would have foreseen in his near future.

He threw his cares away with the shirt he ripped off, still in Harry’s arms as the Alpha walked them to his bedroom. He reattached their lips and hoped that Harry knew where he was going, but he wouldn’t mind mating on the cold floor if they fell either.

Louis was pushed through a door and dropped quite a ways down, but his back was met with a springy and foamy mattress, and he fell in love with the fact that the Alpha’s bed was on the ground. Maybe it’s an Omega thing, but being closer to the ground felt better in unexplainable ways. It probably stems from nesting, but Louis cut his thought train off when he heard rustling coming from Harry’s closet as the Alpha was evidently retrieving something.

The Alpha turned around and smirked, lowering himself to the bed and scooting his way up Louis’ body until their faces were in kissable distance. “Take this,” he said, holding a little white tablet that Louis snatched faster than lightning to inspect it with the utmost shocked concentration.

“Is this…birth control? How do you _have_ this?” Louis asked in spite of his heat screaming at him to get on with it.

“Just take it,” Harry said impatiently, guilty hands traveling down to remove the Omega’s jeans.

Louis swallowed the pill obediently, already having his preconceived notions on how "Harley" might have birth control in his possession. All he needed was one word of confirmation from the Alpha—it’s not like he would be surprised at this point.

Harry rolled him over when he knew it had been swallowed and began taking off every article of clothing the Omega had on. He groaned when he finally got to the lace underwear and he snapped them against Louis’ hip, chuckling when it made the Omega yelp.

“Please,” Louis begged, pushing his hips up in the air and shaking them to entice the Alpha.

Harry was already way past the point of enticed, but he relented and removed the panties as well, gazing in awe at the plug that was shimmering from the slick that was coating it. He went to pull it out, but the Omega made a squeak of refusal and lowered his hips back down.

“What’s wrong?” Harry murmured, traveling back up Louis’ body to speak into his ear.

“I don’t want to part with it. I need to be full, please don't take it out,” Louis whined, knowing how ridiculous it sounded, but finding the concept of ‘empty’ a haunting one.

“But I’m going to replace it with something so much better,” Harry promised, reaching a hand down to slowly pull it out against the Omega’s thoughtless wishes.

Louis whimpered and was actually trying to use his muscles to hold onto it, but Harry kept twisting it until it was out, smiling at Louis’ upset grumbling. “Shh, baby, it’s okay,” he hushed while he immediately pushed his fingers inside instead.

Louis was not expecting the intrusion and he gasped when the Alpha found his prostate so easily. Probably because of the phone sex. “Harr-Harley,” Louis gasped, having a twinge of anxiety from almost letting his real name out.

Harry caught the slip and decided it was time to kill the facade. “My name—” he murmured to the attentive Omega, “—is Harry.”

“I know,” Louis moaned, pushing back against the fingers to get them as deep as possible.

“I knew you would,” Harry admitted with a grin, kissing his way down the Omega’s back to reach his hole.

“You’re the Prince,” Louis said breathlessly, keening when Harry’s tongue was added to his fingers.

“Very good,” the Alpha purred against his hole between kisses and licks.

“Everyone’s looking for you,” Louis noted as he fisted the sheets, tensing every muscle in his body.

“You found me.”

Louis arched his back and cried out as the pace of Harry’s fingers increased. “Yeah but—but Your Highness, I’m not worthy.”

“Not worthy?” Harry repeated empathetically, “Louis, you _are_ worthy. You’re very worthy. Me being the Prince shouldn’t matter, it’s still just you and me, babe.”

Louis turned his head to get a clear view of Harry’s face that was smiling encouragingly at him. “But I’m common.”

“Oh, you are _not_ common,” Harry denied, taking out his fingers and rubbing his hands up and down the Omega’s back. “Louis, I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. It’s not true. And if you really believed that, if you _really believed_ you were unworthy, you wouldn’t be commanding my attention like you are right now,” he mentioned, gesturing to the Omega’s desperate hip movements. “You wouldn’t have this confidence with me. You’d be unable to demand anything, only obediently take what was given. Your wolf already knows we’re one in the same…like it should, because we are.”

Harry got himself out of his own clothes and used Louis’ slick to lube his cock, spreading the Omega’s legs and laying down in-between them.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, this is gonna make me a Princess,” Louis begged logically, holding his breath when he felt the tip of the Alpha’s cock make contact with his hole.

“Louis,” Harry whispered, giving him a kiss on the cheek as he ever so slowly buried himself inside his mate. “You already are a Princess.”

“Fuck,” Louis hissed, making a high-pitched groan as he was getting filled.

“ _Shit_ , Louis,” Harry breathed, sliding his hands up Louis’ arms to cover his clenched fists. “You feel so fucking amazing.”

“You’re so big,” the Omega gasped, getting goosebumps all over his skin when Harry rolled his hips.

Harry chuckled and lifted himself off Louis’ back, pulling the Omega up by his hips to present on his knees. Louis did what he was supposed to and kept his face down, arching his back at much as he could and displaying himself. “Mmm, fucks sake, Louis. Looking at you, I’d never guess you weren’t actual royalty. You are more exquisite and beautiful than any Empire consort could ever hope to be,” he praised reverently.

“Please move,” Louis whined, appreciating the compliments but finding his heat at the top of the priority list.

“I can’t keep my Princess waiting, can I?” Harry said, establishing a predictable rhythm with his thrusts.

Louis was sobbing from the long awaited mating he’d been imagining since Harry first walked into that class posed as ‘Harley.’ He really hadn’t put much effort into that renaming. “Harry—you’re gonna—bond me, right?” he asked between gasps of pleasure, reaching a hand back and desperately gripping onto the Alpha’s side.

“Yeah, Louis. Of course I’m bonding you. You’re mine,” Harry replied, flattening himself and rolling them over so Louis was on top. “Bend your knees,” he instructed as he wrapped his arms around Louis’ torso.

Louis had a bit of a struggle, but he managed to plant his feet on the bed and use the muscles in his legs to keep his hips steady. Harry nuzzled the Omega’s cheek with his nose and held him still while he fucked up into him.

Louis lost his shit at the new position and he hugged Harry’s arms, scratching at them with his sharp nails. Harry slid one of his hands down the Omega’s stomach to stroke his slick-covered cock, catapulting Louis’ pleasure to a never-before-seen height. “Therrre we go,” Harry purred as the Omega growled and came over his hand. “Does that feel good, Princess?”

“I want your knot,” the Omega pleaded, knowing any climax he had would only be a fraction of the final one. And he was impatient.

“Aww, I know you do, little one,” Harry cooed, pushing Louis’ back until he was in a sitting position. “Turn around,” he said.

Louis looked behind him at the Alpha who was smugly laying back with his hands behind his head. “What?” he asked incredulously, faced with a rather difficult task.

“Work for it,” the Alpha said suggestively, throwing a dimple in his request, as if he wasn’t undeniable enough. “Spin yourself around. But you have to stay on my cock the whole time. If it comes out of you, you lose.”

Louis was too focused to even theorize what would happen if he ‘lost,’ and he gladly accepted the challenge. He had zero energy, so it was extremely problematic, but inch by inch he was able to get both of his legs on one side of Harry’s pelvis. Now the only thing left was to throw a leg over all the way to the other side _without_ kicking the Alpha in the face, which he executed flawlessly, and now he was facing him victoriously.

Harry grinned and used his core to fly up and slap his arms around the Omega in a fierce hug. “Well done,” he noted proudly, pulling away and setting one hand behind him to put his weight on. He used the other one to loosely hold the front of Louis’ neck as he bit his lip and looked the Omega up and down. “Fuck yourself. Use my cock for your own advantage.”

Louis shot him a hopeless and highly inconvenienced look, but he couldn’t deny that delicious offer, so he gripped the Alpha’s shoulders and bounced his hips in the most pleasurable way he could get on his own.

The Omega had been doing a fine job until Harry decided to drag his hand down from Louis’ neck and cover every inch of his front, spending a sinfully long time to move it around. All bets were off when the hand found its way to Louis’ nipples and pinched one. “That’s it—” Louis groaned, falling down against him and seeking out his lips. Harry returned the kiss and that same wandering hand caressed the side of Louis’ face and slid up into his hair.

“You tired?” the Alpha asked sympathetically, admiring the different parts of the Omega’s wonderfully sculpted face.

Louis nodded his head, and in a flash he was on his back, looking up at Harry’s alluringly dilated pupils. The Alpha positioned Louis’ hips until they were in the perfect spot, and he grabbed the Omega’s hands that had been on his upper arms and held them down against the comforter. “I’ll give you my knot now—that’s what you want, right?”

“Yes, please, please, I’ll do anything, I’ll—”

Harry cut him off with a kiss and changed his focus on knotting the Omega to conclude their first mating. His blood was rushing in excitement for bonding his Princess imminently, and he knew Louis was just as passionate about it, so he let himself speed up the process to come faster.

Louis felt the gradual forming of his Alpha’s knot and he was crying out of desperation the second he internalized what was about to happen. “Harry…”

The Alpha stared lovingly at the overwhelmed Omega to soothe his frantic reactions, and he seemed to realize the severity of what they would do as well. “I love you, Louis,” he said softly as his knot was only a couple of thrusts away from locking them together.

“Oh god, Harry. I love you too, please take me. Claim me forever, I’ll never let you down, I’m completely yours, please do it,” he begged, trying to bare his neck but getting the perfect angle blocked by the blankets that were under him.

Harry primally growled when his knot popped and shoved a hand under Louis’ upper back as the Omega was screaming out his orgasm, lifting him just enough so his head lolled back and exposed his bonding spot. Harry dove in instantly and buried his canines into the magical spot that would tie the Omega to him forever.

Louis' world exploded into ecstasy, love, and spiritual enlightenments. Their hearts and souls evened out to form a connected singularity. Their frequencies and emotions were shifting and moving around until they were on the same wavelength with each other. Harry felt Louis’ feelings, and the Omega felt his Alpha’s. They knew that if even if they were far apart, their hearts would always beat as one. Everything in their existences became mixed and swirled to create a two-souled team that would never lose as long as they had each other.

And they always would.

“I see you,” Louis said in a trance, following the planes of Harry’s face with his fingertips, “I know you.”

“And I know you,” Harry agreed, closing his eyes and breathily laughing when the Omega’s hands swept over them.

“We’re the same.”

“We are. Come here, baby,” the Alpha said as he lifted them up into a sitting position and fluffed up some pillows so that he could lean back against the wall. The Omega snuggled closer and purred in contentment as Harry absent-mindedly stroked his back.

“Are you gonna explain anything yet? We’ve got about forty-five minutes before I’m going to get distracted again,” Louis mumbled into the Alpha’s chest, furrowing his eyebrows in annoyance when the chest bounced him up and down from Harry’s sudden laughter.

“Distracted? Do you mean desperate?” the Alpha teased, sticking his tongue out when Louis lifted his face up to glare at him. The Omega moved in a flash to lick the protruding tongue and he laid back down defiantly.

“Are you gonna avoid the first question?” he challenged.

Harry sighed and sat up straighter, trying to decide where to start. “Well, I didn’t like what my Father was doing. None of our generation like it. I was going to be made to publically endorse it, and I absolutely refused, so I was threatened with prison. From my own Father.”

“Hang on, the King was actually going to put you in prison?” Louis asked in disbelief, appalled that someone would ever do that to their own child.

“It’s treason. Didn’t matter who I was, I couldn’t defy his orders. But I could leave. Zayn is my pro—”

“I _knew_ it was Zayn,” Louis interrupted, mentally patting himself on the back for being such a great detective. All him—Lottie had absolutely no part in this whatever. _Totally_ his own skills of deduction.

“Yes, very good. Anyway, Zayn is my protector and I asked him to go missing with me, and he jumped for joy over the opportunity. Neither of us liked it there for numerous and complicated reasons, but let’s just say this law isn’t the first of my Father’s crimes against the wolves. It is the worst, though,” the Alpha said bitterly.

“How did you get here?”

“Well, we were given an American-made Escalade, and we got it here on a big transport ferry. It was a complex plan, and I can’t believe we executed it so well. I’m lucky nobody in the general public knows my face, or I would have been spotted so many times on the way to the ferry,” he laughed, replaying his cherished memories from their great escape. He wondered what Connor and Murphy were up to, they had made the ferry ride bearable. Maybe he’d try to find them someday...

“Why Washington?” the Omega asked, beside himself that fate had put his mate directly in his path.

“Something called me here… I guess it was you, huh?” Harry mused, tightening his arms around his gorgeous bondmate and closing his eyes in peace for the first time in a very long time.

“Oh, you got my bat signal?”

Harry snorted and ruffled the Omega’s hair up. “How could I miss it? It covered the whole sky,” he said romantically.

“So the birth control…” Louis began expectantly, still smiling from the last thing Harry had said.

“I stole some, don’t worry about that.”

“Yeah, but when that runs out?” Louis asked nervously.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him and surprised the Omega when he stood all the way up, being meticulously delicate of their connection and walking to his closet to show the Omega how much he had.

He kicked the black trash bag to draw Louis’ attention to it and the Omega gasped when he saw the overstock. “Jesus…” he breathed, staring at the bag with his mouth open in shock. “...and when that runs out?”

Harry cackled then; a gloriously full and rich sound interspersing into the air around them. “You planning to mate me to death, Omega?”

Louis blushed and shrugged his shoulders, eyeing the bag again and trying to make a mental count of how many contraceptives were in the large bag.

“When that runs out, I’ll breed you,” Harry said to answer the question, moaning when Louis’ walls contracted around his knot from his words.

“Breed. God, that’s a scary thought.”

Harry made a concerned sound and walked back to the bed, moving their limbs around until they were spooning. “Scary, or just serious?”

“Seriously scary,” Louis replied, making his Alpha let out another beautiful episode of laughing.

“You’ll be amazing, Louis - but we have a long time before that will become a present situation.”

Louis smiled but he couldn’t stop the betraying tears from flowing out of his eyes. Harry propped himself up and leaned over the Omega to get a good look at his face. “Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, voice tinged with sadness because he could feel Louis’ sudden rush of negative emotions.

“I’m not _good enough_ for you, that’s what’s wrong. You’re a Prince, and I’m—I’m nothing. If I bore your children, they would be heirs to the Empire. I’m not important enough to be the Mother of su-”

“Louis, please, I know my title. I’m a Prince, and I made you a Princess today, it’s true. You are entitled to everything I have, and you have a right to the Empire at my side...it’s just that nothing’s going to get done with my Father around. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I don’t care about any of those titles if they mean I can’t have you. I want you, stupidly rich, or dirt poor. I will never want to be anywhere else than your side,” he confessed, smiling when his own pulse quickened to match the responsive pace of his Omega’s.

“Aren’t you in danger?” Louis asked.

“Depends. I’m in danger of prison, but my life, not so much…and that’s only if they catch me. How could I let them catch me when I have you?” he asked, poking Louis in the sides and making him giggle.

“If you’re sure. I just want you to be happy, even though you didn’t get the happy ending you probably imagined growing up. I’m no suitable Duchess with gold up to my dick.”

A rather embarrassing laugh erupted from Harry’s throat at the Omega’s comedic chops, and he pulled his blankets up to cover them and nuzzled closer into his mate’s back. “You’re really funny, Lou. I love it. No Duchess could ever make me laugh like you do.”

“My pleasure.”

“You wanna know a secret?” Harry asked as Louis was fighting to stay awake.

The Omega was just suddenly so warm and comfortable, and he was finally, truly knotted...who could resist a nap in these conditions? “Of course I do,” he responded eagerly, interlocking their fingers and letting his eyes close.

Harry gave him numerous little kisses on his neck and face, settling down and pulling him in tighter than they both thought was possible so he could whisper in his ear, “We can have our fairytale ending without a castle, Louis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where's MY Prince? Not fucking fair. What does a 21 year old gay boy have to do to get a devoted Prince around here? Seriously, if anyone could hook me up, that'd be greeeattt.


	5. Liam's In The Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is kinda short guys, I didn't realize... but you know I'll have another one later today so hopefully that'll make up for it.

The next four days were well spent on Harry’s knot for the satisfied Omega. He had never felt so fulfilled, and he’s not just talking about his body, though that’s undeniable. He more so means his soul; it felt as though Harry and Louis had been two halves of those best friend necklaces, and now they were finally united to finish the picture.

They understood each other better than if they had been friends for life, which was so weird because realistically, they hadn't known each other for very long at all. It's just that they’d been drawn to each other from the start, and now it was as if there hadn't ever been anything else. The bond displayed every nook and cranny of the soul that you could never put into words to describe to anyone else, and it significantly aged their relationship. They just got it. Everything clicked.

So emotionally and mentally, they were two peas in a pod...but now that he’s got that out of the way, he’ll touch on the physical aspects. His Alpha and himself had done a great number of unspeakable things with each other by now—things the Omega never would have dreamed of. They’d gotten themselves into every position imaginable and reached higher highs than have ever been documented.

Louis had no idea that a living creature could orgasm that constantly and still live to tell the tale, but he’s the walking proof. Louis’ body had been pushed to its absolute limit, and every time he thought he couldn’t possibly take any more, Harry always found a way to push it further.

The Omega’s exhaustion was almost bending the space-time continuum with its intensity, but neither of them could stop. The need to mate was worlds above the need for recuperation, so even against Harry’s concerned disadvision, Louis had only slept for a total of ten hours in five days.

This heat was obviously going to be the strongest in comparison to his adolescent ones because of his nature’s constant repression, and Louis had known that. However, what he’d pictured it to be did nothing to successfully prepare himself for how powerful it really was.

It was now what they guessed to be the last night of his heat, and though they were sad, they welcomed the sleep that they would finally be able to catch. Louis was currently rolling his hips back and forth on Harry’s knot because he wasn’t done yet, and the Alpha was groaning around his index knuckle that was caught between his teeth.

“Louis, my love…do you need to come again? I’m really sensitive right now,” Harry panted, thoroughly enjoying his Omega’s ministrations, but also fearing they might catch on fire if he doesn’t stop.

“I do. I need to come—I need it,” Louis confirmed, nodding his head and scratching at Harry’s chest.

Harry steeled himself for the slight discomfort it would cause him, but his Omega needed something, and that will always be more important. “As you wish,” he said with a quick nod, pulling Louis down to his chest and rolling them over to be on top. He made small thrusts with his knot while grinding his hips against the Omega’s backside, feeling Louis’ heart rate spike from receiving the coveted pleasure.

Louis moaned as he got closer to his last release, and he snaked a hand down to take ahold of his cock and work himself to completion. Harry didn’t seem to like this, and he slapped the hand away, replacing it with his own and gnawing on a nipple just because he could. “Bad Louis,” he tsked, sniffing at the Omega’s neck and speeding up his hand when his mate’s back arched all the way off the bed. “You know that’s my job. Only I can please you now, and that includes yourself,” he grunted, keeping Louis on the edge until he was ready.

“Harry, please,” Louis sobbed, feeling as though he would float away from the pressure in his body if Harry didn’t let it out somewhere soon.

“I know, baby,” the Alpha cooed, extending his canines and grazing the bonding spot, causing a desperate screech directly into his ear, and biting down after he made his compulsive command: “Come.”

Louis almost giggled at the gratification as he came like a firework had ignited in his nervous system, covering every inch of his body with astronomically phenomenal and _ecstasy_ -like perfection. All the impending sensations that were bottled up in his body dissipated like the world’s fastest bath bomb as he painted both of their chests with his climax.

Harry took his teeth out and smirked down at the grinning Omega, prideful that he and his knot had pushed the submissive into the trancey and blissful state he currently swimming in. “Did my Princess enjoy that?” the Alpha asked in his signature patronizing tone that Louis would never ever put an end to.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Louis moaned, losing his long and fierce battle to keep his eyes open.

“That’s a good idea,” Harry noted referring to his Omega’s exhaustion, situating them to spoon as is the normal after-knot ritual, and wrapping him up in his arms. “You did so good, baby. This heat was the most amazing time of my entire life, I love you so much. Sleep now, my love, you’ve already given me more than I could ever ask for.”

Louis smiled at the praise, but he was practically already dreaming so he promptly slipped out of consciousness, and Harry chuckled against his back. The Alpha peeked his head over Louis’ arm to gaze fondly at the Omega who was instantly asleep from Harry’s words, and he quietly whispered his praise into his mate’s ear, “... For example.”

 

\---

 

Louis awoke to the sound of a cough and he rolled over to find Harry sprawled out on his back like a starfish. The Alpha cracked an eye open at the Omega’s movement, and he smiled like the sun as he beckoned Louis into his arms.

The Omega sighed happily and snuggled into the warm and inviting chest, running a finger down between the Alpha’s pectorals and giggling when he shivered uncontrollably from the sensation.

“Mmm,” Harry hummed in interest, tightening his embrace and kissing Louis’ hair multiple times in quick succession. “You Omegas are so cold, your skin is the perfect balance for ours.”

“I’m glad you like it, because I don’t think I could handle not having you for a heater,” Louis groggily replied, yawning on the Alpha’s chest and stretching his limbs.

“My warmth is yours to bask in… Oh, before I forget—good morning, bondmate.”

“Good morning to you too, bondmate. I’m hungry,” Louis said with a small whine, lifting his face to give the Alpha his personal masterpiece of puppy dog eyes.

“Ah, let’s go to Zayn’s,” Harry suggested, sitting them both up and scrounging for wearable clothing.

Louis ended up in a borrowed flannel and clean boxer briefs, but before Harry could find some pants, he got understandably distracted by the scene before him. The Omega was absolutely swimming in the shirt, only his tiny knuckles were visible out of the arms as he held his fists against his lips and knocked his knees together to fight the chilly air. “Louis,” Harry breathed appreciatively, lifting a pair of pyjama bottoms off the floor and approaching the unbelievably adorable Omega.

He nuzzled into Louis’ scent spot and wrapped his long arms around the Omega’s lower back, running his hands up the back of his shirt and sliding them back down to grope at his plump arse. Louis gasped and fisted Harry’s hair, pushing against the hands and whining when the Alpha pulled away.

“Sorry, love,” Harry excused, dropping to his knees and helping the Omega into the soft pants. “Hunger gets satiated first, or I’m not doing my job right at all.”

Louis shuddered every time Harry kissed his thighs as he dressed him, and he was just barely able to move his legs of their own accord.

Harry successfully got the pants to his waist, and he caressed Louis’ arse again before he snaked his hands around the backs of his thighs, powerless to stop himself from nuzzling the Omega’s crotch. Louis made a choked squeak, and Harry wrapped his arms around the Omega’s hips to hold him steady as he scented the aroma he was so addicted to.

“H-Harry,” Louis stuttered, warning for the slick the Alpha would cause if he didn’t stop.

“Okay, okay,” Harry chuckled, rising to his feet and giving Louis a quick kiss, blindly throwing his own clothes on and leading the Omega by the hand toward his oblivious neighbor’s house.

Harry threw an arm around Louis’ small shoulders when they discovered the outside air was absolutely freezing, and he hurried with the jangly keys to get in Zayn’s home before they were turned into popsicles. The watchdog’s door across and facing their own was finally opened, and he gently pushed Louis in first, hopping in after him and taking him right back in his arms.

They quietly walked down the hallway because Harry didn’t know what to expect, and when he pushed the bedroom door open, both of the wolves dropped their mouths open at what they saw.

Zayn was snoring on his back with one arm bent behind his head and Niall lying on the other one, which was fine...but there was another Alpha under the covers, peacefully sleeping on Niall’s stomach with his bushy brown hair fanning out all around the Omega’s torso, and an arm thrown over Zayn’s hips. Liam.

Louis held his hands over his mouth to keep from bursting into laughter, and Harry cleared his throat to wake them all up before the situation got creepy on their part. Nobody should be watched while they slept, that’s just weird—unless it was your own mate, of course.

Zayn and Liam woke up first, and Harry committed the shameful face Zayn made to his memory down to the last detail to keep this classic moment alive for the rest of his life. “Mornin’, lads. Brekkie time,” he joyfully called, finally waking Niall and backing Louis and himself out of the room so the trio could have their privacy.

They sat down on the stools at the island, and Harry massaged the tops of Louis’ thighs as they waited for the walk of shame to be entertained by. Louis smiled and leaned forward to press their lips together and sighed into the Alpha’s mouth when he deepened the kiss, but they were interrupted by the three unlikely lovebirds groggily shuffling into the kitchen.

“Well, hey there,” Harry said smugly, pointing between the three crazy-haired wolves and raising his eyebrows at them. “Care to explain?”

“We…came to an agreement,” Zayn grumbled, walking to the fridge and innocently scoping its contents.

“Yeah,” Liam laughed after a moment of silence, smirking at Zayn as he walked Niall to a stool and opened the cabinets to get the dishes out. “Quite the unexpected agreement considering he’d pointed a gun at my face twenty minutes beforehand.”

Niall choked on his orange juice Zayn had poured, and Louis smacked him on the back as he cackled at the Omega’s misfortune. The blonde used some nearby napkins to wipe at his now drenched shirt, and he cleared his throat multiple times before he could squeak, “WHAT!”

Zayn’s eyes went wide, but that was the only proof of his guilt. He otherwise continued fetching breakfast themed ingredients from the fridge and handing some eggs to Liam to put in the pan on the stove.

Liam cracked ten eggs and dropped them into the pan, adding a mixture of spices and artistically attacking them with a spatula. For a moment it seemed the conversation would end there, but Niall wasn’t done.

“You held a gun at him?” the blonde demanded, racking his brain for when that could have happened.

Niall was appalled, Louis was intrigued, Liam was amused, Zayn was regretful, and Harry was smug as hell, but nobody understood where the change of heart came from.

“I did, yeah. It was at school, obviously. I didn’t like the entitlement he had, but I realized that I could only be the Alpha you could look up to if I did everything in my power to make you happy. And if Liam makes you happy, he has to make me happy too. That’s just how it works,” he said maturely, furiously dicing ham and peppers on the cutting board to swipe into the eggs before they were done.

“Okay, maybe I would accept that if you two hadn’t been going at it last night,” Niall said knowingly, raising his eyebrows at both of them.

Now it was Harry’s turn to choke on his drink.

“Quiet, you impudent Prince,” Zayn snapped at Harry, who raised his hands up in bemused surrender. “Liam grew on me…oh, fuck me, fine. He’s ridiculously attractive, and I’m only one beast. I can’t always help my urges. Are you happy?”

Liam appeared at Zayn’s side to collect the cutting board, and turned around when he'd emptied it into the eggs. “Wait, Prince? Why did you just call him Prince?” he joked in confusion as he stirred the mixture, expecting them to have some casual backstory to the nickname, but getting nervous when the room fell completely silent, the only sound being the crackling of breakfast.

“I know, by the way. Louis and I had already guessed, but I knew it for sure when I saw the arsenal of birth control,” Niall addressed the two royal Alphas, sharing a sneakily victorious look with Louis.

“Cheeky,” Zayn said appreciatively, winking at his Omega.

“Wasn’t that nuts?” Louis gushed, elbowing his Prince in the ribs when he snorted into the back of his hand.

“Guys? What are you talking about?” Liam asked tensely, quickly depositing the finished breakfast onto five plates before he got too distracted and burned it all.

“I want coffee,” Harry said offhandedly.

Louis rushed to help because providing for an Alpha was in his nature. “Right away, Your Highness,” he said pointedly, deviously stirring the pot even more.

“Okay, seriously. What is this? Zander?” Liam said warily, making direct eye contact with everyone in the room but spending a lot of time on the brown-haired Alpha.

“His name isn’t really Zander,” Niall said confidently, nuzzling back into Zayn when the Alpha sighed gratefully and wrapped his arms around the blonde’s front.

The Alpha was seriously lucky that Niall wasn’t fighting him over it and simply accepting it; he really hadn’t wanted that conversation of betrayal. However, he might get it with Liam now.

“What is it?” the out-of-the-loop Alpha asked cautiously.

“My name is Zayn,” the protector responded, giving Liam ample time to piece it together.

Liam’s mind was going back and forth between the missing Prince and confidant wolf, and these two British wolves of mysterious background stories. “What’s your name?” he asked Louis’ ravenous Alpha.

The green-eyed wolf smirked and dropped his fork, leaning forward into the counter and placing his elbows onto its surface, lifting a fist up to rest his temple against. “Harry,” he announced simply, smiling when his Omega returned with a cup of coffee and scooted into his side. He moved an arm and let the submissive nuzzle in and scent his neck, deciding then to deliver the finishing blow because Liam was still unsure. “Harry Styles.”

Liam gasped and stumbled to the island to stabilize himself before he crashed to the floor. “You’re—you’re—holy fuck. I…what the fucking fuck? You’re the fucking—what the actual—jesus shit balls, fucking, holy—”

“Would you get a handle on yourself, please?” Zayn scolded with his mouth full of eggs.

“What are _doing_ here, Your Highness?”

“Hiding from my government,” Harry replied tonelessly, sipping on his coffee and looking way too uninterested.

Liam’s mouth gaped and he turned his gaze to Zayn. “And that makes you—”

“Zayn Malik, yes. The Prince’s watchdog. Are we done with the formalities?”

Louis and Niall couldn’t hold their amusement in any longer, and they laughed their asses off at the Alpha who was the last to know. “Come sit down, Liam,” Niall suggested with a giggle, pushing his plate away because he had finished it.

Liam walked like a zombie to his seat and continued to stare in wonderment at his two fellow kin, who were sitting amongst him like they _weren’t_ two of the most important wolves in their whole species. “No wonder you had a gun,” he noted as he began to understand.

“Yeah, it all makes sense now, grand,” Zayn said boredly, giving Liam a smile anyway because he found his perpetually shocked face really rather adorable.

“I snogged the Prince’s watchdog,” Liam breathed in disbelief.

“I fucked the Prince,” Louis supplied from their left, earning a skeptical laugh from his Alpha.

“Uh…I think you'll remember that I fucked you, Louis.”

Zayn ignored their irrelevant bantering and responded to what Liam had mentioned. “Very good. And if you make this the last time you mention that title, you may just get to do it again,” he said condescendingly, kissing Niall’s cheek when the Omega pressed their faces together.

“We’re not royalty here. It’s safer for us if you keep that in mind. You may call us by our true names when we’re alone like this, but to everyone else, we’re Harley and Zander. Don’t forget that,” Harry informed, taking Louis in his arms when they were done and settling down on the couch together.

“I won’t,” Liam promised, sharing a look with Zayn when Niall hopped off to go claim the other couch. “Teach me how to protect you,” he said under his breath.

Zayn’s eyebrows raised into his hairline and he regarded the Alpha with incredulity. “Sorry?”

“You’re guarding Harry. That could potentially leave you open to harm. Someone has to have your back, so teach me how to fight. Let me protect you. For Niall, of course,” he added shyly, not wanting to admit he had already grown feelings for the Alpha at some point during Niall’s heat.

“I’ll teach you,” Zayn accepted, downing the rest of his coffee and sliding off the stool to stand beside the still sitting Liam. Their eyes met and neither could deny the sparks that flew between them, regardless of how much Niall was their top priority. Zayn reached a tentative hand to hold Liam’s face and he leaned in to connect their lips to the joyous cheering of Niall from the couch.

The kiss was sweet and peaceful, and Zayn pulled back smirking, inwardly gloating over the flush that spread across Liam’s cheeks. “For Niall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh the Ziam. Oh the Ziall. I make myself swoon. When do you think shit's gonna hit the fan? What's gonna happen?


	6. Not Going Anywhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, but he is.

Even though their heat cycles had awakened now, Louis and Niall decided to stay in school for as long as they could. It would probably only be for another month, but they wanted to see how far they could push it. Their heats had taken over them close to the weekend, so they’d only missed three days, and they had their Mothers call in for them with a nameless high-fever sickness. Not too far off from the truth, and they were safe from questioning for now.

Liam was still finding it a little difficult to wrap his mind around the fact that he was mated by association to the Prince’s watchdog, and also in the daily presence of the Prince himself; but the more he got to know them, the less he cared about their titles. They were just as goofy as anyone their age would be, and they rarely got ultra serious, except for when training time came.

Liam had priorly asked Zayn to help him learn how to fight, and these sessions had been happening at least three times a week if they weren’t too busy with schoolwork. Liam had mentioned he wanted to drop out of college many times to always be available, but everyone had convinced him against it because it just wasn’t necessary. Maybe in the future…

Liam got his actual ass handed to him in every duel they would have, but he could tell he was getting stronger—at _least_ more resilient. The punches didn’t annihilate him anymore, the kicks didn’t bruise him like a peach, and he didn’t tire out so quickly. When Zayn was busy, Liam spent his time at a gym in the university, beating on a boxing bag and sparring with people who would take interest.

Humans were a lot easier to overpower, and though he was invincible at school, he never let himself forget that it meant nothing in the way of wolf fighting. He would just hold himself back for them a bit, and it turned into good practice.

 

~~~

 

Louis had taken a fair amount of his belongings out of his home to move into Harry’s because he was mated now, and he kind of had to. His family still hadn’t met Harry yet, and the bondmates were trying to think of the best way to do it, who should know what, etc. It didn’t seem like a good idea for Louis to tell his entire family, his little sisters had quite an ear for gossip and big mouths to match, but he didn’t think he could hide it from his Mother.

Lottie was going to be particularly insufferable about her correct deduction, and Louis would be lying if he said he didn’t desperately want to see the look on her face.

The pair were planning a dinner for this weekend, and they convinced Niall to do the same with his parents; to let them know who Zander actually was, and inform them that Liam was in his life too. Niall agreed wholeheartedly, and both Omegas were ecstatic about the weekend. It was in an Omega’s nature to want to show off their mates, and these were extremely noteworthy ones at that.

 

~~~

 

\---

 

Harry and Louis stood outside of Louis’ house at sunset while Louis briefed him on the sibling names again. He knew the Alpha wouldn’t be able to distinguish the twins, Phoebe and Daisy, but Harry wanted to get everything perfect and leave a good impression, so the Omega had tried to educate him as best he could.

Louis smiled when Harry nodded that he was ready, and he unlocked the door with his beat up key, pulling his mate in excitedly. They were immediately met with all of Louis’ family as expected, and only Daryl refused to smile at the pair.

“Ohh, you both look lovely,” Joan commented, walking forward with outstretched arms to properly greet her son’s mate. “I’m Joan, love, it’s nice to meet you.”

Harry returned the embrace and straightened his casual blazer when she pulled away. “Is this lovely?” he asked in confusion, having worn complex royal garments all his life.

“Yes, it’s lovely,” Louis said tightly, accepting all of his sisters’ hugs as they came.

Louis noticed his Father’s silence because it was loudest of all, and he held a hand up to quiet his sisters as he cleared his throat for his Father’s attention. “Dad? Dad, this is Harrley—” he said poorly, adding another throat clearing to try and make up for it. “—Harley. My bondmate. Harley, this is my Father, Daryl.”

The Omega then let the Alphas take care of the rest, and he shared a nervous look with his Mother, but she shook her head nonchalantly and smiled to comfort him.

“Sir Daryl, you have the most incredible son on this entire planet, and I will bow at his feet for the rest of his life,” he professed, lowering his head in respect to his mate’s Father.

Louis’ mouth dropped open because only he knew just how intense of a declaration it was for a Prince to promise he would bow to another, and the Omega could almost cry from the sweetness of it all.

Daryl continued to look a bit unimpressed, but he certainly hadn’t expected such a heartfelt greeting. There was just something on his mind still. “Have you impregnated my son?” he asked bluntly, the whole family hanging on Harry’s reply.

“No, I have not,” Harry answered truthfully, ignoring the smirk he could see on Louis’ face in the corner of his eyes.

“What about his heat?” Daryl asked suspiciously, not understanding how this had been possible for the new mates to avoid.

“I helped, but I will not Mother him until we are fully prepared for that journey. I believe we are still too young to make that kind of decision, so please, don’t worry.”

Louis fought his snickering with every fibre of his being. It was such a FAT diversion from the truth, but there were indeed elements of accuracy. They would not be having pups any time soon…but his family didn’t know exactly _why_ that was.

Nevertheless, Daryl visibly relaxed and extended his arms to the Alpha too, taking him into his chest and thereby accepting him into the family.

 

\---

 

Dinner was composed of never-ending questions to Harry from Louis’ sisters and parents, and trying to get Phoebs and Daze to sit the fuck still because they had so much energy in their little eleven year old bodies. If Louis’ family were testing Harry, the Omega is confident that the Alpha passed every single one with flying colours. Eventually the demanding questions stopped coming and everyone fell into more familiar conversation.

Their meal together ended up flying by from all the excitement, and everyone was shocked when they checked the time.

“Oh crap, I gotta get some rest,” Daryl announced, wiping his mouth with a napkin and standing up as his chair noisily screeched across the hardwood floor. “It was very nice to meet you, Harry. You have my full approval,” he said politely, kissing all of his family on the heads and shaking Harry’s hand once again before disappearing down the hall to his bedroom.

“Alright, loves,” Joan said, addressing the twins who looked unwilling to comply even before she’d made the suggestion. “Time for bed.”

“No,” they both whined in unison, receiving a warning look from their Mother.

“I won’t tell you all night. Fizzy, dear, get them to bed.”

The twins sighed dramatically and hopped out of their chairs, throwing their arms around Harry and refusing Fizzy’s unnecessary help. “We can put ourselves to bed, Mum. We’re eleven?” they sassed, saying their reluctant goodbyes and dragging themselves across the carpet to their shared room.

Once the house was quiet, Joan cocked her head to the backyard, and the five of them quickly retreated to the porch that was illuminated with fairy lights and garnished with outside couches that couldn’t have been cheap.

“Alright,” she said when everyone was seated and attentive, “What did you want to tell us?”

Lottie crossed her arms slowly and pursed her lips in mock wonderment, and Louis could only grin at her sarcasm.

“Well,” Louis began, looking at his petrified Alpha and becoming aware that he was going to have to be the one who would let reality hit his family like a bus. Well, except for Lottie, who was obviously impatient to finally hear what she already knew. “First, I have to tell you not to shout, or scream, or do anything that would cause Dad to wake up, ‘cuz I know that man is already asleep like a log. We gotta keep him that way. You’ve gotta hold yourself together, or we’re all screwed. I don’t want the twins knowing, either. So you can’t tell anyone. _Anyone_. Understand?”

Joan nodded in trepidation, not expecting Louis’ news to be so dire and important. “What is it, Louis?” she asked with a tight throat.

“Okay, uh…Harley’s name isn’t Harley,” he said first, Lottie clapping her hands together and making two fists of victory, catching both Joan and Fizzy’s confused attention, but not keeping it.

“Well, what is it?” Fizzy pressed, anxious to be in the know like Lottie evidently already was, the sneaky bitch.

“It’s Harry Styles,” Louis said all at once, not wanting another James Bond moment to happen like Harry had done to Liam.

“The _Prince_?” Joan gasped, Fizzy taking in a loud breath at an unreasonably slow pace by her side.

“Nice to meet you,” Harry chimed in, giving them a winning smile and holding his hand out again to redo introductions.

Joan took it with a shaky arm and held it with both hands to actually get a grip. “Well, I’ll be,” she said in shock, spluttering and beginning to bow.

“No, no, no, please don’t bow. I’m not all that special, I promise,” Harry said quickly, pushing her shoulders back up and grinning innocently. “I hate my Father, so I came to America. Met Louis. Fell in love. That’s really all to this story that there is.”

“Hi,” Fizzy squeaked when Harry’s gaze fell onto her, shaking his hand equally as frantically. “Nice to meet you, Your Highness.”

“Wrong,” Louis sighed, leaning over Harry’s back when he bent to shake Lottie’s hand to make his point clear to his Mother. “He is _not_ Your Highness, do you guys get that? The guards are looking for him and Zayn, and they can’t find out where he is, or Harry could go to prison.”

“Oh, sorry—Harley,” Joan said, catching herself before she called him by his real name. “We promise, we’ll remember that. But why prison, dear? What’s happened?” she asked sympathetically.

“I didn’t like the laws that the King passed, and I defied him. He threatened me, so I ran…but I don’t think I can ever stop running,” Harry confessed sadly, getting the identical whines from all three women.

“So, Zayn?” Lottie asked, remembering the detail about Zander and Niall.

“My watchdog,” Harry replied obviously, not understand the question.

“Yeah, he mated Niall. Liam too. Long story, not mine to tell,” Louis answered, leaning back against Harry as he was pulled in by the Alpha’s arms.

“What _really_ happened during your heat, Louis?” Fizzy asked accusingly, getting a sharp slap on the leg from Joan at her lack of propriety.

“Honestly?” Louis asked, cringing under the gaze his Mother instantly skewered him with. “I’m not pregnant,” the Omega rushed to say before anyone could get all worked up from assumptions. “But Harry has a lot of birth control…”

His sisters giggled into their hands, and Joan sighed unpleasantly from hearing what she didn’t want to know, but she was admittedly glad that their insurance existed, otherwise something was bound to happen, no matter how "careful" they were. Wolves were wolves.

“Just be _careful_. We won’t say a word, but please watch over each other. This guard business sounds like a nasty entanglement to get into, and I’m gonna be worried all the time. Keep updating me, I wanna make sure you two are alright,” Joan said waveringly, having a hard time accepting the fact that her son and his Prince mate were in danger of being separated so soon after finding each other.

“We will,” Louis replied, reaching a hand out to rub over the tops of his Mother’s.

“Now this is a big if, but _if_ they were to find me, I would never let them lay a finger on your son. He is more important to me than any crown in the world. I will always put him first, no matter what,” Harry added, fondly rolling his eyes at the squeals that followed his words. “It’s true…I love him.”

“I can see that you do,” Joan agreed, her eyes twinkling because her firstborn had found his forever. “You two should run along home now, let us decompress from this particularly shocking news.”

“Whoa, shocking? Hardly. Welcome to the family, Harley the penniless sitar player,” Lottie said in a friendly manner, dragging Harry onto his feet and into her arms.

“Moulin Rouge…I approve,” he said to the white-haired sister, giving out the remainder of his personal goodbyes and taking Louis’ hand when they were ready to depart.

“Do call, will you, Louis? If you don’t, you know I will anyway,” Joan scolded with a grin.

“I will,” Louis promised, sharing a last look with his family and tugging on Harry’s arm to lead him back inside and out the front door. “Come on, Harley Quinn.”

Harry facepalmed amidst their laughter, shaking his head at the apparently signature Tomlinson antics. “Oh, for fucks sake.”

 

\---

 

No new articles had come out regarding the missing Prince, so Harry let himself calm down and live normally, going out in public whenever he wanted and refraining from looking over his shoulder. Even if Harry felt he should, Zayn was always there to look for him, and the Prince would never be able to express his endless gratitude for that wolf’s existence.

However, he shouldn’t be thinking about going out in public right now on this Saturday morning when he was wrapped up in Louis’ arms in their bed. “What are you doing?” he chuckled to the Omega who was excessively constricting him with overly tight spooning.

“I had a bad dream,” Louis replied, only letting up his snake embrace because Harry began turning around to face him.

“I did too,” Harry seconded, brushing Louis’ hair off of his face and fighting an oncoming yawn. Didn’t seem like the best time.

“What was yours about?” Louis asked, wanting a break from remembering his own.

“Oh…just about the guards finding me and taking me back to England. I’ve had that particular dream ever since I came here, but nothing has happened. It’s just my—”

“Harry, that was my dream too,” Louis exclaimed, whining into the Alpha and losing the battle with his tears.

“Was it?” Harry asked sympathetically, rolling them over so he was on top and holding Louis down in the way that Omegas always needed.

“I dreamt that they took you away from me, and p-put you in prison,” he said between sobs, doing his best to let his Alpha soothe him like he was dutifully trying to do.

“I’m so sorry, Louis. I think you just had my dream because we’re bonded now, and it was emotionally powerful enough to draw you in. I wish you hadn’t seen that, don’t worry, it’s not going to happen. I wouldn’t let that become a reality.”

“You wouldn’t have a choice,” Louis argued, wrapping his arms and legs around Harry as he calmed his breathing.

Harry nuzzled into Louis’ neck and kissed at his bond mark, figuring mating might cure the Omega’s anxiety. It seemed to work because Louis softly moaned and arched his back to be closer, so Harry made sure to drive the point further. “I see where you’re coming from, and that might be true if they were to find me. But how could I let them do that when I have you? I’m bonded, Louis. To you, and only you. My Empire means fuck all to me at the moment, and they’re going to be searching Canada, not America. We have some time, and if I even get an inkling that they’re in this state, we are running away together, okay? I won’t them take me away from you, or otherwise. You’re mine,” he said all the way through grinding their hips together as a distraction.

“Harry, please,” Louis panted, trying to take his own boxers off, but failing to realize the reason he couldn’t was that his legs were still wrapped around Harry’s back.

The Alpha chuckled and reached his arms back, unhooking the Omega’s legs and slipping the undergarment off, spreading his thighs apart and scooting down to lick in-between them.

“Fuck,” the Omega breathed, grabbing the backs of his knees and keeping them open for his Alpha. He whimpered when he felt himself producing a hearty amount of slick, and the pining desperation that inevitably followed. “Harry, I love you. I need you to know that,” he cried from being overcome with random emotions.

“Baby,” Harry cooed, crawling his way up Louis’ body and getting two arms under his back to hold him as he sobbed. “Louis,” he whispered into the Omega’s ear, kissing around his neck for good measure. “Louis, I love you too. Nothing can ever change that. It’s like you were put on this Earth just for me, and I promise you that nobody else could ever own my heart but you. I can admit that it was nice to have someone connect with me as a person, and not as a Prince, but that’s not what this is. This is more. It wouldn’t have mattered if you were already my biggest fan in the kingdom, I would have bonded you anyway. I don’t know, I can’t explain it...but you’re it for me, Louis.”

“Fucks sake, Harold. Just knot me before I need a box of tissues more than I need to be mated. Don’t be at fault for distracting my priorities,” Louis grumbled lightheartedly, seemingly sucking all the creeping and vulnerable emotions back into his body through his sniffling.

“Right away, Louise,” Harry teased in adoration, lining their bodies up and burying himself inside his mate before the Omega could take another breath.

“Shit!” Louis shouted, digging into the Alpha’s back with his nails and wrapping all of his limbs around his strong stature like a koala. “Don’t ever leave,” he begged with a wavery tone, cringing at himself for all the unexpected insecurity.

“Never—never leave,” Harry promised as he sped up his hips to slam into his perfect little living dream. “Wild horses and that.”

“Oh, of course you’re a Rolling Stones fan,” Louis muttered, grinning into the kiss Harry stole to shut him up. “Mmmf-Harry!” Louis whined, twisting his face away and arching his back in anticipation for his coveted fulfillment. “Now—need it now.”

Harry smirked and focused on knotting to please his Omega, swallowing his moans with a greedy tongue and trying his best to completely merge them into one person. What he got was out of his efforts was only a knot, but that was quite enough for the two of them to satiate their endless desires for now.

The Alpha wasn’t done though, and he bit into Louis’ bondmark to really send him over the edge, humming in appreciation when he felt the Omega’s release dampen both of their chest with its warmth.

“Oh, Princess,” Harry groaned, lapping at the come on Louis’ chest with an eager tongue and rolling them onto their sides when he’d gotten it all, attempting to stare through the Omega’s eyes and into the unexplainable realm of spirit that lies within them.

If he didn’t know any better, Harry would say one shouldn’t gaze into eyes this blue for too long or you may not survive. That they would hold you captive for the rest of time, and you would be at the colour owner’s mercy to decide when to set you free. Well, take out the malicious intentions, and the Alpha supposes that’s not too far from the truth. “You are mesmerizing,” he praised, running a reverent finger down the smooth cheekbones he’d instantly fallen for. “The most beautiful creature these tired eyes have ever beheld, and don’t you try to deny it, because as the saying suggests, _I’m_ the beholder, and—”

“Beauty is the eyes of that,” Louis finished for him, agreeing with the Alpha’s confession, but flipping the address in his mind. “I hope you know how perfect you are to me, as well. Don’t ever think it’s just you who can’t breathe right when one of us is around.”

“I wouldn’t make such a wild assumption. You kinda fucked that up on day one in Mr. Eby’s class,” Harry mentioned, shoving his knot further inside the Omega when he saw his cheeks redden to distract the beauty from his unnecessary embarrassment. “Don’t worry. I loved it.”

“Oh, my hip remembers it well,” Louis said breathily as the goosebumps rolled in like waves—from the back of his sensitive thighs to right under his ears.

“Mmm, I was considering going out and doing things today because we have school tomorrow, but now I just want to stay inside and knot you all day,” he spoke against the Omega’s skin.

“Well, I’m not complaining,” Louis said with a smirk, happily sighing from the never-ending pleasure of their connection.

“I wonder how many times I can make you come today,” Harry said seductively, reaching down to paw at the Omega’s quickly growing erection.

“Shit, unf—probably a lot.”

Harry gave his dimples some screentime and wrapped his hand around Louis’ shaft, giving his cock innocent rubs and pumps with his wrist to bring him to a slow completion. The Alpha licked up the side of his neck and just had to increase the speed of his hand when his precious Louis whimpered for more. “Start counting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was 42 btw...


	7. Short-lived Celebration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late babes, pls forgive meeee.

Wednesday happened to be a school-free day because apparently it was a holiday but everyone forgot which one, so that left the royal lovers to do whatever they damn well pleased. This turned their picnic plan into a reality, and they went to the nicest park they could find to have lunch together under the miniscule sunshine.

Harry had obviously never had a picnic before, and neither had Zayn. Nor Liam for that matter, but the Omegas were incessant about making their desires known, so the Alphas easily agreed to make them happy.

“Sun is nice, but I don’t understand why it’s out in the middle of February,” Liam noted after closing his eyes and letting the rays hit his face when they broke free of the clouds. He looked around and gasped at all the beautiful pigment the flowers now had, and for some reason it brought an idea into his mind.

“Zayn, more training,” he requested, standing up and holding a hand out for the watchdog to take.

“Why now?” Zayn asked, giving a kiss to his Omega’s cheek and taking the hand anyway.

“Because things…er, opportunities only come in a split moment sometimes, and missing it could be disastrous. You have to take chances when they come, or they’ll be gone before you can blink. I don’t wanna be unprepared if we had a chance to go over something and didn’t because—”

“Okay, okay,” Zayn chuckled, jogging further from the blanket and getting into his natural attack stance. “Block me.”

Harry, Louis, and Niall watched in amusement as the wolves fought each other in the grass. Niall laid his head in his best friend’s lap and threw some blackberries in his mouth as he stretched his limbs.

“Do you think it will last?” Louis asked, catching both Harry and Niall’s attention.

“Hmm?” Harry asked curiously, leaning his cheek against his Omega’s hair and rubbing his back with a gloriously ringed hand.

“The peace. This,” Louis explained, gesturing to the serene picture they all painted. “How long can this peace last?”

Harry didn’t bother to tell his Omega he shouldn’t worry about meaningless things like that, because that was just it…it wasn’t meaningless at all. His Omega is very intelligent and not naïve in the slightest. He knows what the real world is like, and he’s not hiding behind a false blanket of security because he knows such a thing doesn’t exist.

“I can’t lie to you…I’m not sure how long it will last,” Harry said honestly, tightening his arm around the little wolf when he sighed dejectedly.

“You didn’t have to tell me you can’t lie to me. I wouldn’t have believed you otherwise…all peace comes to an end. None of it’s permanent, and people are foolish to believe otherwise,” Louis mumbled sadly.

“That may be. We may be in for a rough patch. But you realize, using your own logic, that means that all strife must come to an end too? Surely we can create a reasonable balance in our one life together. I will never stop fighting the things that seek to separate us. If it happens, it won’t be for long. Know that. I can’t ever not come back to you. You’re my Omega,” Harry declared, rolling his eyes when Niall audibly squeed from Louis’ lap. “Quiet, Niall.”

“Sorry,” he whispered, backing up to give them their space with the biggest grin that’s ever been on one single creature.

“It’s not all up to you, you know. You think I’d just sit around on my ass? I’d always do everything I could, same as you,” Louis informed, needing his Alpha to see he wasn’t fighting this battle against the Empire on his own.

“I’d do the same for my Zayn. Liam too. We’re all in this together,” the blonde added, no longer caring about interrupting. His fighting mates halted their training session when they sensed an exuberant amount of passion coming from their mate’s soul, and they jogged back over to join the discussion.

The wolves talked for hours about how dedicated they were to the little family they’d all found within each other, and promised that every person here was worth dying for. Nobody else liked to hear it when someone said it, but every single one of them said it themselves anyway. Because it was true.

Wild horses and that.

 

~~~

 

“Well just go up to every black car in the whole damn parking lot, boy-kid,” Dax ordered over the phone, groaning because he couldn’t better help the human he’d paid to search for him, much less just look himself - because if he did, the royal Alphas would smell him.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m looking. And what the fuck is boy-kid? My name is Jonah?” the teen sassed, hardly believing he deserved such weird treatment after being offered sixty dollars just to find one stupid license plate number in a parking lot. “And what are you gonna do when you find the Rover?”

“It’s an Escalade, Jonah boy, an _Escalade_.”

“Just Jonah, please. And fine. Escalade. Do you know how big this parking lot is? They’re all nice ass cars, these are rich kids. Do I look like a rich kid? An Escalade isn’t sticking out here like it would at my school, so give me a fucking minute,” he huffed in exasperation, jumping up and down to look down the rows of cars.

“It is none of your concern what I do once I find it, you already have your money,” Dax said to deflect the question, sighing to the heavens that everything had to be this difficult. “Isn’t that all you humans care about...” he added in a mutter under his breath.

“What’d you say?” Jonah asked, the reception getting fuzzy when a huge gust of wind blew through the area.

“Nothing, Jonah boy. Just keep looking!”

“It’s JONAH!”

The guards didn’t respond to such a frivolous correction, and continued sitting patiently in their car that was parked across the street from the lavish high school. They even considered this reasonably safe distance to be a risk of exposure because Harry had Zayn…and watchdogs alone had better and stronger physical tracking senses than anyone else; they reigned supreme and unchallenged in their detection abilities, and that was a huge problem for Dax and his team.

The guards could not go about this carelessly without keeping that crucial fact in mind. You can never get close to a watchdog unless you are positive you will prevail regardless. If Zayn got a whiff of England at all, he was likely to move into the shadows and remain hidden until the threat was gone, and the guards couldn’t lose them like that. More importantly, Dax didn’t have the time to waste.

“Hey! I found it!” Jonah called into the phone, jarring Dax out of his inner monologue and causing him to slap Justin’s shoulder until the offended guard handed the binoculars over.

“Where? Where are you?” Dax demanded excitedly, searching the lot meticulously until he found a far-off Jonah jumping up and down in the back corner. “There you are. Well done. You can go,” he said simply, dropping the line and leaving Jonah to stare at his phone in confusion before shaking his head with a shrug and wandering off.

“Now we know where to keep our eyes,” Justin said obviously, dodging another formidable palm on his face from his Captain.

“Don’t be an idiot. I hate pointless words. Only speak when it adds something useful, please.”

 _At least he said please_ , Justin thought cynically.

 

~~~

 

Meanwhile, Louis and Niall weren’t feeling too good. It was a few days too early to be having their heats, but apparently nature had other plans. The Omegas shakily turned around in their chairs in their math class right after lunch, and the Alphas nodded and began packing their all of their stuff.

Harry leaned forward to verify it would truly come soon, but as soon as he got close, the blast of full Omega pheromones he caught almost made him tip the entire desk over. To add insult to injury, the Prince felt his inner Alpha stretch its legs and awaken with a wave of his own heat. Fuck.

“Right now?” Louis gritted, starting to growl instead of breathe from his mate’s equally undeniable scent. The Omega was beginning to understand the early heat, because one look at those Alpha wolves, and anyone could see the rut written all over their shocked body language. The Omegas’ instincts must have caught on before anyone else did, but the pieces were falling into place now.

“Zayn,” Harry hissed, his watchdog’s eyes as wide as the moon. “Did we…did we check the calendar? Have we been paying attention?”

“...Oh sweet fucking god, we forgot about our ruts,” Zayn said shakily, the Omegas whipping around to face them nervously at the confirmed truth. Alpha ruts always come out of absolutely nowhere, and they go from zero to sixty almost instantly. They also never have much prior symptoms at all, so it was always imperative for Alphas to know exactly when they would get hit with it.

The only reason it had slipped the royal wolves’ minds is that ruts only came once every three months, and they’d been so preoccupied with life, but that’s hardly an excuse. This was a heinous lack of judgement on their part, and now they were all going to pay the price for it.

“Liam,” Niall whispered urgently, pointing at Zayn’s pocket until the Alpha understood it meant he should contact their mate with his phone. “We need Liam. We need him to drive. Fast. Now. We gotta move now,” the blonde said frantically, racing against the clock and taking matters into his own hands, dragging the slicking Louis out of his chair to make their hasty leave.

Niall knew someone had to call the shots or the classroom was going to become a particular jungle that no human would ever want to witness. He packed Louis’ things for him as the Prince’s mate stood on wobbly knees, then he shoved the backpack to him when it was zipped and grabbed his own. Together, they stumbled down the row of desks en route to the exit, knowing that in rut, the only thing the Alphas would do is automatically follow them.

“Why is it always you four causing all the trouble? What’s happening now?” Mr. Baker whined, not harboring an intimidating bone in his whole body.

“There’s been a terrible accident,” Niall said ridiculously vaguely, beckoning the Alphas who were slowly backsliding into full rut. The blonde couldn’t take it anymore and he pulled out his phone as he ran out of the room, praying to Louis himself that the Princess could keep himself together.

“Liam?” Niall cried into the phone when his other Alpha had answered after the first ring. The blonde knew that Zayn had probably forgotten all about calling him, so he’d done it himself.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Liam asked worriedly, already grabbing his keys because he could feel the dire severity in his Omega’s voice. He didn’t have any classes today, and he didn’t live far from the school. Only a block away in fact, that’s how he’d been able to sense Niall’s first heat last month.  

“Zarley and Hander. They’re in rut. We’re in heat because of it. Get your ass to the school, you’ll have to - have to drive the Escalade back home,” he said concisely, not even realizing he’d jumbled up the fake names. “Hurry up, we’re losing our goddamn minds.”

“Fuck! Hang in there little one, I’ll be there as soon as possible, lot D, right?” he asked as he flew out of his front door and down the driveway.

“Mmhm,” Niall said, pocketing his phone without hanging up because he had to quicken his pace now, proven by the Alphas grabbing the Omegas’ hands and breaking into a sprint.

“Don’t let us stop you,” Harry snarled behind him, “If we try to stop you, punch us in the face and keep going. We have to get to the car.”

Louis nodded and kept pounding his feet, determined to get to their destination before losing his shit. His heat was getting worse, but it wasn’t as bad as the first one because he had some experience under his belt now. Quite literally.

Leave it to fate to run them straight into the Principal of the school when they turned the last corner they’d have to before reaching the parking lot.

“What in the name of—what are you doing?” Mrs. Aymeric asked in a splutter, crossing her arms over her cardigan and setting her lips in a tight and unforgiving line.

“We have to go,” Niall responded, desperate to drag the Alphas away before they started getting too protective.

“OH, _do_ you?” she shouted, grabbing Louis’ wrist and yanking him toward her. Oh, god damnit.

The Principal was against the brick wall with a hand around her throat quicker than she saw it happen, and the fear in her eyes was something to laugh about later, but it certainly wasn’t now. Harry was dangerously close to roaring in her face, and there was a good chance his wolf eyes were out from denying a shift for so long.

Louis didn’t wait to find out and smacked him hard on the shoulder, wolf-whining silently at him in a tone that suggested he needed his knot. That did the trick and Harry released her to chase after the retreating Louis in a mate haze.

Mrs. Aymeric coughed and ripped her glasses off her face, screaming at the distancing four students as loud as she could, because apparently the heavens needed to know that they were all, “EXPELLED!”

 

~~~

 

“Holy shit,” Matthew exclaimed, Justin nodding his head but holding a finger to his lips to silence himself, or they’d get berated by Dax.

The Captain was equally uneasy when he got a look at their targets’ desperation, and he jumped into action when the scent of the royal wolves’ ruts filtered through the air. “Fuck, rut and heat combination? Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked, turning the key to drive as far away as possible. “We have to get out of here, their senses are too strong right now. They’ll spot us in a heartbeat if we follow them. Call everyone else, tell them to back off, but to document every turn that we can witness.”

“Yes, Sir,” Justin said, pulling his phone out to the formal group chat the guards were in. They had three other groups posted in different directions around the school to see which direction the Prince would go, and try to follow him from there. That obviously had to be postponed, but they may still be able to get a general idea. They just can’t be dumb about it…

 

~~~

 

Liam suddenly jumping into the driver’s seat of the car put Harry in a panic, but Zayn reached over from his position on top of Niall to soothe him out of fight mode. Liam gasped from all the intoxicating scents that were locked within the vehicle, and he wasted no time picking the keys up off the driver’s seat where they’d been blindly tossed the second Zayn got in the car. He fumbled with the keys for five frustrating seconds, but the time finally came when the vehicle roared to life, and he peeled out of that parking lot like he was a guest on Top Gear.

Harry was rolling his hips against the wet spot on the back of Louis’ jeans, and needlessly loudly growling in his ear to assert his unchallenged dominance. Pretty pointless.

Harry and Louis were both on their knees, smashed up together between the passenger seat and the back ones, the Omega bent over it and whining at every movement his mindless Alpha made behind him. Harry just growled and growled at him, mercilessly shoving Louis deeper into submission and more importantly, into his heat.

The other couple were perpendicular to them with Niall on his back, trying not to smash his head against Louis’ because Zayn kept pushing him back and forth to grind their crotches together. “Liam, hurry up,” Niall cried out as Zayn sank his teeth into his bondmark.

“Going as fast as I can, loves. Now would _not_ be a good time to catch the interest of the human police,” he said with a forced voice, fighting his own distracting arousal.

“I need your hole, Louis,” Harry said darkly, trying to rip Louis’ pants off his hips while the Omega fought back with every last shred of reasoning he had. “Why won’t you let me have it? It’s mine, you belong to me. Give yourself to me, _now_ , let me—”

“Harry,” Zayn warned, having enough sense in himself to bring Harry back from the brink of an Alpha drop before they were in the privacy of their homes. “Hold it together, mate. We have to get home first. We’re in a bloody car.”

Harry only regarded his watchdog when his hair was harshly yanked by him, but once the Prince had his eyes focused on Zayn, the previous words he’d said registered in his mind and he dropped his forehead onto Louis’ back while he tried to only breathe through his mouth. “I’m sorry, Lou.”

“It’s okay,” Louis whimpered, pulling on Harry’s wrists beside his head until the Alpha got the picture and interlocked their fingers, turning and lowering them to lean against the back door so Louis was seated in front of Harry in-between his legs. Seatbelts were obviously lost on this group, but at least Liam had enough sense to put his on because he was the only one visible.

Harry was breathing heavily against the back of his Omega’s neck, trying to lock himself inside his body until they got home, but Louis’ pull was unfairly intense. The need to knot was overpowering every other logical thought in his mind, and Zayn continued to be the only angel on his shoulder, successfully stopping him every time he lost control.

“Lou,” Harry growled once they turned on their street, announced by the extremely relieved Liam. “I’m gonna destroy you,” the Prince enticingly threatened, finally letting himself scent the Omega like he’d been depriving himself of. “ _Fuck_.”

“Liam, you have to help me,” Zayn grumbled when he finally stopped the car in the driveway. “Get us out of here, help Harry if he needs it, I’m counting on you to get us inside,” he pleaded, trying to tear himself away from Niall, but finding it practically impossible.

Harry thankfully didn’t need any assistance once his home was in sight. He opened the door behind him and tumbled out, dragging Louis’ deadweight out with him and throwing him over his shoulder. He used all of his focus into getting to the door, but once he was there, he didn’t know what to do.

Liam only let Harry kick his door three times before rushing up to it with the key. Harry growled and snapped his jaws at Liam when he passed, but Liam was quick about opening his door and backing away as it was slammed in his face without a thanks. Perhaps another time…

Liam returned to his mates and gently pulled Zayn back by the shoulders, albeit pulling Niall up with him since the watchdog wouldn’t let go. “Get me inside,” Zayn snarled, leaving it all up to Liam to not only lock the car, but get their house open while somehow simultaneously keeping the two upright the whole time.

This bitch deserved a medal for this.

Clothes were shredded once the door was shut and everyone ended up on the floor, but that’s okay…they could move later.

 

~~~

 

Harry had both of their clothes off in record time and was now on his knees, eating Louis out while the Omega was smashed against the front door. “Turn around,” he ordered, spinning Louis around anyway before he could even try. The Alpha stood and lifted the Omega up by the backs of his thighs, growling appreciatively when Louis got the hint and wrapped his legs around him.

“Harry,” Louis whined when he got shoved once again against the door. Apparently this door was going to be their bedroom, and that’s perfectly alright with him. “Now, Harry,” he pleaded when a heat wave crashed through his hormones.

Harry relented and reached down between their pelvises, slicking up his cock and pushing into the only place it could possibly belong. Louis’ breath caught in his throat and Harry let him drop until he was as deep as he would go, and then used both hands to hold him under his arse.

“Fuck me,” Louis begged in a hoarse whisper, sobbing when Harry finally gave him the speed he wanted. Harry’s nails dug into his arse as he gripped it fervently, driving his hips into him again and again, chasing their desperate releases. Louis didn’t give a single shit that he was getting repeatedly knocked into a door, he only noticed the addictive pleasure that his Alpha was giving to him.

“Hold on to me,” Harry grunted, taking his hands away and whacking them on the door beside Louis’ torso instead. Louis tightened his grip with his legs and wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck that had previously been holding Harry’s flexing biceps.

The new proximity meant Harry couldn’t help nuzzling into his Omega’s neck, and he had to fight the urge to bite it because he wanted Louis to have the best treatment, and that meant waiting for his orgasm. “I’m gonna knot, Lou,” he warned, increasing the strength of his thrusts while Louis wailed impatiently.

“Give it to me, please!” the Omega cried, arching his back away from the door and baring his neck for the Alpha’s bite. “Alpha, please.”

Harry growled as his knot grew, snaking his arms around Louis’ arched back and bouncing him up and down on his thickening cock. Louis’ fingers twisted into Harry’s hair and he held his breath as the beginnings of his orgasm creeped up his body. He could do nothing but chant "Alpha," but that’s all Harry wanted to hear anyway.

They had their release at the same time as mated couples usually do, and Harry looked down and stuck his tongue out to catch some of Louis’, and he moaned as he swallowed the delectable taste, going straight in for the Omega’s neck.

“Fuck!” Louis screamed when the teeth pierced his mark, all the physical and emotional sensations in his body jumping to almost intolerable levels. Harry groaned in pleasure against his neck, only taking his teeth out when all of his release was emptied into the…release emptied into…release…emptied…

“Louis!” Harry shouted, pulling back in shock and meeting the Omega’s confused eyes. “Louis, I…”

“What? What is it?” Louis squeaked, looking around wildly for imaginary adversaries.

“I just breeded you,” the Alpha breathed in amazement, looking down at their conjoinment and trying to remember making Louis take a pill. It hadn’t happened.

Louis thought about it and his entire face paled as the realization sunk in. “Oh my god,” he whispered, his breathing getting laboured as he teetered on the edge of a meltdown.

Harry said nothing but pushed off the door, carrying the knotted and now breeded Omega to the bedroom, gently laying him down on the mattress and rubbing his skin idly because no words had come yet. The mated couple laid there like that for a long while, just holding onto each other like they were the only prevention of gravity taking them away.

Harry was drowning in his guilt and shame, cursing himself for being blinded by rut and not realizing what they were both susceptible to. Even in rut, he’s the Alpha. He should have been able to take care of his Omega and not force him into something so serious, regardless of whether that’s what he would have wanted or not. His inner Alpha was jumping for joy over breeding his Louis, and that’s why he felt like shit. He shouldn’t be proud—he _should_ be disappointed, but he’s not.

Louis on the other hand was getting more excited as time went on instead of more shocked and horrified like he was before. Sure, they were facing a bit of rough times ahead, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t deserve a good thing to come out of all of it, like a pup for example.

“Harry, it’s okay,” Louis said into the silence, lifting Harry’s face out of his neck so he could look at him.

“No, it’s not,” Harry argued, looking everywhere but into the Omega’s eyes.

“Harry,” Louis said sternly, finally getting those green orbs to stare into his own. He ran his thumbs over the Alpha’s cheek bones and reached up to plant a kiss onto his tight lips, smiling when they molded against his in return. “I promise you, it’s okay.”

“I’m under threat of doing serious time in the Empire prison, and you’re getting breeded right this second, and you think that’s okay?” he challenged, squeezing his eyes shut and dropping his forehead onto Louis’ chest.

“You’re forgetting the upside,” Louis gently reminded, slowly petting the Alpha’s tangled hair.

Harry sniffled and tilted his head just enough to see Louis’ eyes. “What?”

“We’re getting a pup. Nothing can ever tear us apart for good. Not even before, but especially not now. You’re going to be a Father, Harry. You’re making me a Mother, how is that not something to celebrate?”

“It is, Louis,” Harry said passionately, connecting their lips and pouring all of his joy into the kiss, showing just how happy he was to be breeding with his Omega. “I’m just worried,” he said as he pulled away, running a palm over Louis’ forehead and carding his fingers through his soft, fluffy hair. “But don’t think for a second that this isn’t a dream come true for me. I’m the happiest Alpha alive…but the thought of my son or daughter growing up without me in their life…”

“Is an unnecessary one,” Louis promised, holding his Alpha close and chasing the warmth his body provided. “It’s not gonna happen. Believe in us.”

“I do. I swear, I do. I love you, Princess,” Harry said sweetly, content to just stay right where he was until his knot went down. He would hold himself up until the end of time if it meant comforting his precious life mate.

 

\---

 

“Harry, oh my god, harder,” Louis panted, working to keep his hips up and back arched. It was day three of their heat and rut, and it had been a wild time so far, but thankfully Harry was diligent about getting him fed and bathed. Just couldn’t remember the birth control part…but that’s not how their species naturally worked. Heats and ruts were made for breeding. It's their sole purpose, so how could the wolves be blamed?

Harry was pounding into his tight little Omega from behind, holding him up by his waist and giving his back a few pets here and there to hush his cries. Omegas have this odd little spot on the middle of their spines that can calm them down if something is run against it, especially when in heat. “Okay, baby—I’m ready,” he alerted his mate, slipping his hands down from Louis’ waist to his hips to get a better grip as he knotted him.

“Mmmmpff,” Louis moaned into his pillow, his whole body quivering in anticipation as his bliss got closer and closer to the status of heaven itself. Of course, he couldn’t know that, nor does he particularly believe in that kind of stuff…but he figures if ‘heaven’ isn’t like this, then what’s the point?

He got sent over the edge when his Alpha finally locked them together and he came way harder than should be legal. It was so powerful that it almost felt like a gunshot, instead of the usual roller-coaster, and Louis was a mess because of it.

The overwhelmed Omega fell straight down into a third realm of consciousness and didn’t come out of it for quite some time. Harry rolled them on their sides and spoke of fierce and undying love until the little submissive eventually reemerged and took in his surroundings in confusion. “Hey, Princess. Where’d you go?” he teased, licking and nipping at his neck.

Louis twisted around to look at Harry and he smiled drunkenly when he saw that gorgeous face of his. “No clue,” he admitted, snuggling back into his mate and sighing dreamily when he thought about his life. “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart,” Harry said back instantly, making a choked sound when they both felt his knot going down, because knots only went down this fast if…if…

“How long was I out?” Louis asked anxiously.

“Like fifteen minutes,” Harry said in wonderment, looking from their connection to Louis’ face a few times before grinning like a madman and crashing back down to squeeze the Omega in his arms. “You’re pregnant,” he squealed reverently, peppering the side of Louis’ face with rapid affectionate kisses. “You’re really pregnant.”

Louis was stunned speechless over the confirmation that he figured he would get. It’s not as though he wasn’t expecting it, rather that he wasn’t able to accurately judge what it would feel like when he knew for sure. It was like every detail in his life up to now washed away, because individually, they weren’t important. They all added up to become a straight lined string to this very moment, and nothing else mattered.

The Omega quickly blinked away his tears and turned around the instant his Alpha pulled out of him, sobbing into his chest anyway. Harry didn’t worry because he knew they were happy tears, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t shed at least a few.

“Can we shift?” the Prince asked once they’d calmed down.

“You wanna shift?” Louis asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, of course I do. You’re officially the Mother of my child, and I’ve never seen your true wolf before. You don’t think that’s a crime?”

“Well I haven’t seen yours either,” Louis agreed, moving to sit in a criss-cross legged position and waiting for Harry to do the same.

The Prince smiled and sat across from him, joining their hands and closing his eyes to concentrate in total silence. This whole shifting business took quite a bit of mental power to even let it happen. The human part of a wolf’s mind would always fight against something so unnatural to its knowledge, so they needed to quiet that part to have a smooth time with it.

Louis was deep in his meditation when he heard Harry cough and hack around his wolf throat, letting go of the Omega’s hands to back up and get some space. Louis opened his eyes because he wasn’t about to miss Harry turning for the first time in front of him, and he awed at Harry’s graceful transformation.

The Alpha ended up in all dark brown fur with shimmering golden eyes, and he ran around the room to get just a tiny bit of exercise in. There was nowhere they could really go in the suburbs, so they would have to make due to with the confinement of their home, even if it felt a bit claustrophobic.

Louis dumbly remembered they had a backyard that was shared with Zayn’s, so the Omega walked on his tiptoes across the cold wooden floor to get to the sliding door, letting Harry out in the process. The Alpha barked in thanks and ran out into the grass while Louis carefully sat down on the edge of the yard to resume his meditation.

Harry padded over and laid his head down in Louis’ lap, gazing up at him patiently. Louis ran his hands all over Harry’s head and scratched behind his ears while he tried to focus. Out of nowhere, his eyes flew open and he urged Harry’s chin away, the Alpha wolf easily jumping out of the way to give him room.

Louis walked his hands forward until he was on his knees, panting down at the ground while Harry approached and licked his face encouragingly. _Jesus_ , Louis thought, surprised at how difficult the shift was after repressing it for so long. He kept pushing himself until he felt his wolf finally break free, like the rusted edges of his soul finally got the oil they needed to move.

He closed his eyes and dealt with the discomfort until it was gone and he was somehow on his side in his wolf, and he opened his eyes to a different world of perception. He took a deep breath and decided to relax in the sun because everything over the last seventy-two hours had absolutely exhausted him.

Harry came over to lick at his face and cuddle up to him, and it didn’t take long for Zayn’s sliding door to slam open and two wolves to fly out into the yard followed by the watchdog himself, in his actual watchdog form. They weren't about to miss this.

The Prince wolf and his mate lifted their heads as they were greeted by their closest friends, but the watchdog trio all stopped short when they smelled something different coming from the Princess.

Zayn recognized it instantly, and he looked to Harry to confirm his suspicions. Harry retracted his lolling tongue back into his jaws and nodded his head seriously, pawing at his protector’s shoulder when the idiot howled out a congratulations. Their neighbors would probably question a bunch of loud howling coming from a random backyard, and that wasn’t desirable attention to receive on a calm Sunday afternoon.

Everyone wanted to question Louis about it, but there was no way to really communicate everything they wanted to say, so they settled down to take a nap together before their heat and rut cycles came rolling back around.

 

\---

 

Everyone woke up except for Louis, who remained heaving air in and out of his lungs, obviously still deep in a dream. Zayn and Liam shifted back and grabbed a blanket to wrap Niall in when he did too. Harry shifted as well and caressed Louis’ neck while his kin concealed Niall in the blanket.

“He’s pregnant?” the blonde squeaked excitedly, quietly clapping his hands.

“Harry,” Zayn said a bit disapprovingly. Not that he wasn’t happy for his Prince, because he was, but what the fuck was the reason of stealing all of that birth control if he was just gonna breed an Omega on the second heat?

“Yeah, I fucked up. But I’m too happy to care,” he responded, laying down on Louis’ upper side and using his fur as a pillow.

Niall suddenly squirmed where he stood from a heat wave, and his Alphas led him back inside at once, calling their goodbyes over their shoulders and shutting their sliding door.

“Have fun,” Harry chuckled, turning his head to stare at Louis’ sleeping face. “Louis?” he called into the wolf’s ear, getting a bit antsy to be back in his Omega after all. “Hey,” he tried again, sitting up and gently shaking him awake.

Louis whined out a yawn and cracked his eyes open, sitting up when he saw Harry.

“Come on, love,” Harry said as he stood up, walking back into their bedroom and fonding at the tiredly shuffling wolf as he passed the doorway. “Why don’t you come back, Lou? I need to knot you before we sleep again.”

Louis nodded and closed his eyes, lying down on his stomach and very slowly evolving into his human again. Harry let the Omega get his bearings and relax on the floor for a few moments until he knew Louis would be fine with moving. “Okay, come on, baby,” he said as he lifted him off the floor and into his arms. “Let’s get you even more pregnant, how’s that sound?”

“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Louis croaked with a sore voice, evidently not fully back yet.

“Well, I’m gonna try anyway,” Harry said, expertly entering Louis while they were still standing and laying them on the bed to begin thrusting his hips.

Louis gasped and all of his energy came back to him, reminding him of the nagging heat waves that he’d been distracted from. “Oh god, please do.”

 

\---

 

The last two days had passed by like a breeze, and they’d all had dinner at  
Zayn’s to celebrate the last night of their mating frenzy, hounding Louis with all of the congratulations they could spare.

Dinner had been great despite Louis feeling a bit sick the whole time, and then unfortunately when they got home, Louis’ stomach rebelled and he spent the next hour over the toilet bowl, sobbing while Harry brushed his hair and held him close.

“I’m sorry,” he’d whispered over and over again, even though Louis kept reminding him it was nothing to apologize for because it was just part of the deal. It’s not like he’d poisoned him on purpose, but Harry still felt bad about it. Louis was a little glad at this too if he’s being completely honest. Maybe he _should_ feel bad.

Now that the Omega’s body had finally calmed down, they were lying in bed until sleep took them over, chuckling about funny things that had occurred at dinner, and just speaking of general things that came to mind. The baby was the most frequent topic, and Louis couldn’t wait until he was able to feel the gender. Humans needed these little machines to let them know which is which, but Louis’ species could always feel their offspring themselves.

He had a little bit to wait for that though, and Harry promised that he wouldn’t mind either way.

“I love you, Prince Harry,” Louis said into the darkness, getting a sloppy kiss on the cheek in return.

“And I love you, Princess Louis. Both of you,” he added, walking his hand over to rest against Louis’ stomach. They both fell asleep in record time, and both houses in the duplex were silent besides the shifting of limbs and the tickles of breaths.

 

~~~

 

“Their hormones are drained, now is the best time, my Lord,” Dax argued into the phone, where he was discussing the plan with the King. “Please just let me make these decisions…yeah…yup. Got it. Yes, my Lord.”

He hung up the phone and redialed to contact everyone on standby. “Yes, Captain?” said everyone at different times as they answered. Once he confirmed that all five groups were on the line, he made his demands clear.

“I believe Zayn and Harry may be staying in opposite houses of the duplex. Follow their scents carefully, we don’t need to break into some human’s home, that would cause problems. They just got out of rut, so they’re the weakest they will be right now, this is our only shot. Don’t fuck it up. As soon as you’re outside, smash through those doors, don’t give them a chance to fight back. Use the Omega bombs the second the target is in sight. My group will be the last to enter for safety purposes, I’m going to Harry’s with group four and five. Group two and three, you take Zayn. Understood?”

He heard a resounding echo of respectful agreements, so he waited until the temptation became too great, and then he grinned viciously and sounded the call, “Now.”

 

~~~

 

Harry’s eyes flew open from an unmistakable scent putrefying the air, and he didn’t have any time until the bashing on his front door began. “Shit!” he shouted, waking Louis and putting him on edge.

“Harry, is it them?” Louis cried, grabbing onto Harry like he could keep him in place if they tried to move him.

“I’m so sorry, Louis,” Harry whined, knowing if they were confident enough to break in, then they were high enough in numbers to take him down.

“Harry—”

Louis turned his gaze to the door when they heard heavy clunks of boots racing to the bedroom, and he held Harry even closer, committing every part of this to his memory. “I love you.”

Before Harry could respond, the door burst open and an Omega bomb was thrown in. Harry knew it was an Omega bomb because he’d grown up around these guards, and the purple smoke was a big tell. “What is that?” the scared Louis asked.

Harry turned and shielded his mate in his arms, knowing it was too late anyway. “Shit! Louis, close your eyes, baby. I love you so much, we’ll find each other, I know it. I promise,” he shakingly professed, tightening his hold when Louis began to get heavier.

“What’s happening to me?” the Omega slurred, unable to stay alert.

“You’re just gonna go to sleep, okay? I love you,” he said, smashing their lips together and growling when Louis’ head lolled back as he passed out. Harry even coughed from the strength of the compulsion hormones that were thick in the air, but the smoke cleared as quickly as it had dispersed.

The Prince got up slowly when he couldn’t spare any more gazing at his soulmate, and he turned to see the person he feared the most sweep into the room, bloating with ego.

“Dax,” he spat, making sure to glare at all the other guards before training his eyes back on his natural enemy. Dax had been out to get him his entire life, so this was extremely personal for Harry. “You didn’t have to drop an Omega just to get me to listen to you.”

“Hello, Harry. Fancy seeing you here, isn’t it? And maybe not, but we would have needed to anyway. Any Omega in your bed has to be a fiery one,” Dax said with a shrug, obviously not giving a fuck either way.

Harry hated to admit it, but he was right. Louis would have fought tooth and nail to protect Harry, and that would have gotten him hit or worse…and he was pregnant. Probably the only good thing Dax has ever done is stop that before it could happen, and he doesn’t even know it. “Whatever,” he grumbled in spite of his gratitude.

“Aren’t you gonna ask how we found you?” Dax asked impatiently, almost overflowing with the need to brag about their gps hacking skills.

“No thanks, I don’t give a shit,” Harry bit back, figuring it had something to do with the telemarketer phone call, just on general process of elimination.

Dax growled and motioned for his guards to restrain him, and Harry dropped down quickly to give his Omega a parting kiss on the forehead before he was dragged away. Justin tied his hands up behind him, and took his arm when he was done, Matthew coming up to take the other side. “Is this really necessary?” Harry gritted, fighting against the painful grips on his arms.

“Oh, yes. The King has made it clear to use any and all means necessary to detain you. So I chose all,” he said with a devious smirk while Justin and Matthew both landed reluctant punches to the Prince’s stomach.

Harry grunted and doubled over, lifting his head only to glower at the Captain through his messy hair. “You slimy douchebag. I’m your—”

“Prince, I know. But you’re wanted. For high treason, I may add. You face imprisonment by order of the _King_. That’s a bit of a step above your title, wouldn’t you say?” he sassed, cocking his head to tell his guards to move him outside.

Justin and Matthew used an impressive amount of strength to lead Harry out of the room, feet dragging or not, but Harry fought back and planted his feet when they were passing Dax to growl right into his face: “ _One_.”

 

\---

 

Harry got quite literally thrown into the back of a van, snarling the whole time as the doors were slammed and locked probably a thousand times from the outside. “Damnit!” he shouted, kicking at the doors with all his might, but to no avail.

“Harry,” Zayn whined, stealing the Prince’s focus immediately. “Harry, I couldn’t stop them, I’m so sorry. By the time I detected them, they were already in the house, and then they knocked Liam and Niall out and I—”

“Zayn, it’s okay,” Harry assured, knee-walking over to his watchdog and sitting himself up on the bench right next to him. “We just came out of rut, they knew what they were doing,” he muttered darkly, sighing when Zayn lowered his head onto his shoulder.

“Is Louis okay?” Zayn asked worriedly, knowing the kind of Omega Louis is.

“Just knocked out, he’ll be fine. Omega bombs wouldn’t hurt a pup, either. I’m not worried about him on that front. What about Niall?” he asked in return, needing to ensure the Omegas’ safety before anything else.

“Same,” Zayn replied simply, “But they knocked my Liam out with a damn baton. They fight dirty.”

Harry nodded his head and closed his eyes until he felt the van turn on and start to roll away. “Fuck!” he cried, kicking the nearest thing he could reach in frustration.

“What are we gonna do?” Zayn asked sadly, seeing no way out of this at all.

“I’m thinking,” Harry said harshly as he furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the opposite wall of the van like he had lasers in his pupils.

Zayn smiled regardless of the impossibility of their situation; he knew Harry would find a way out of trouble. He always has. The watchdog swung himself around until he could lay his head in his Prince’s lap, seeking the kind of comfort that only he could give him.

Harry got the hint and bent down to press their lips together, giving him a lopsided smile when he turned to lay on his side and nuzzle into Harry’s thighs. “I’m gonna fix this.”

Zayn nodded and closed his eyes, aiming to get some sleep before he would need to fight, or whatever on this Earth his Prince commanded him to do. “I know you will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: "or the classroom was going to become a particular jungle that no human would ever want to witness."  
> Most likely every reader including me: "I WOULD!!!"


	8. Isn't It Obvious?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, I just realized that I have Norman Reedus in this twice, LOL. Daryl and Murphy, fucking shoot me.

“Niall!” Liam cried, holding his bleeding head with one hand and shaking the Omega with the other.

Niall stirred, but it took him a while to finally open his eyes. When he did, he launched himself into Liam’s lap and let it all out. “They took Zayn! I can’t believe that actually fucking happened,” he growled, indecisive as to whether he should weep or break something. How about both? “Fuck,” the Omega shouted uncharacteristically, snatching a stupid little snow globe and hurling it at the wall. A crushing wave of sadness followed and he sagged back onto the bed, dropping his head into his hands and wracking sobs as Liam tried to comfort him.

Before the Alpha said anything, Niall’s head shot up and he rushed to dress himself, remembering that they had important neighbors next door who undoubtedly suffered the same fate. “Get up, we’re going to see Louis,” he announced, not waiting before he stomped out of the room.

 

~~~

 

Louis had slowly opened his eyes after being awake with them closed for about twenty minutes. He didn’t want to see a world without Harry, but he wouldn’t be able to avoid looking forever. That commenced another twenty minutes of looking at the same spot on the ceiling until he heard the unlocking of his door.

He didn’t let himself get false hope, and only moved his head to stare at his open bedroom door, unintentionally cracking his neck a bunch of times as he did so. He knew it was Niall and Liam by their scents, and he was glad they were coming to see him, but nothing could lessen the blow of his true solitude.

He could be in a crowd of people, but if Harry was unattainable, he was standing by himself. It’s hard to appreciate the company of other creatures when half of your soul is missing. Still, it may be good to have someone around who knows what he’s going through…even if the lucky blonde still had two-thirds left.

“Louis?” Niall asked carefully once he arrived outside Louis’ room, not feeling good about Louis’ entirely emotionless face. “Are you…” Niall trailed, realizing that the question "Are you okay?" was a really stupid one.

Louis said nothing and turned his head back to look at the ceiling without even blinking once. Niall timidly walked to the edge of the bed, sitting down next to his Princess and taking his cold hand in both of his. He couldn’t fully relate to him because he still had Liam, but Louis would be a fool if he seriously thought that the loss of Zayn wasn’t earth-shattering. “I know,” the blonde said simply.

Niall shooed Liam out of the doorway, and the Alpha went to take a seat on the couch until further instruction. He had no right to call the shots here, not with the Princess.

The watchdog’s Omega searched around for any decent clothes he could put his best friend into, and he came back with a little pile, carefully taking Louis’ comforter off of his body in case the Princess would fight back. He didn’t, so Niall somehow got him messily dressed and called for Liam to come back.

“Let’s take him to our house. We should eat,” he suggested to his Alpha, struggling to lift the catatonic Louis up by himself. Liam rushed to help and together, they carefully got the Princess all the way into their kitchen, sitting him down at the island while Liam searched the fridge for breakfast.

It seemed like a good idea to make eggs like they all had before for comfort purposes, so that’s what Liam did. Meanwhile, Niall rubbed Louis’ back and patiently waited for him to break out of whatever headspace he was drowning in.

The Princess eventually broke his frozen state, but it was only to cross his arms over the counter and drop his chin on his wrists, still staring at the same salt shaker he had been this whole time. His face was void of everything except hopelessness, and it was hard for Niall to look at, but there’s nothing he could say to make it better.

Liam finished the eggs and carefully set the plate down in front of the sulking Princess, and this was actually the only other thing that could have snapped him out of it. Louis took in one breath through his nose, and his eyes widened at the smell of food and what it did to his stomach. Which was assassinate it…

The Omega straightened up and threw a hand over his mouth, sliding off the stool and sprinting to the bathroom to get viciously reminded that he was in fact pregnant. How great that the first sounds he’d made all morning was the sound of him retching into a toilet, but it fit his mood pretty perfectly.

It was actually pretty painful this time around, and with the retching came tortured sobs, which let all of the other emotions out of his heart. Now that he was crying already, he let himself really think about losing Harry, and he lost his shit in a different way this time.

Niall dropped his fork onto his plate as he was startled by Louis’ pitiful vomit noises evolving into wails of despair, and he stumbled into the bathroom to see the Omega on the ground with his back against the wall, pulling at his hair and punching the sheetrock behind him with an outstretched arm.

“Oh, Louis,” Niall whined, joining his best friend on the ground and pulling him into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Louis. I’m so fucking sorry. We’re gonna figure this out, that’s what we’ve always said, right?”

“Harry,” Louis screeched, using the blonde’s embrace to ground himself, digging his nails into the blonde’s back. “Harry’s gone. I really lost him. My Harry’s gone,” he sobbed, not having the energy to fight Niall as he yanked him off the ground.

“I know, hunny. Come on,” Niall cooed sympathetically, moving them to the couch because food seemed like it could definitely wait now. “You have to be okay, though. You’re still a Mother right now, even though we can’t physically see that. You have to treat yourself with care, or it’ll affect your pup.”

Louis sighed and looked down at his inconspicuous stomach, not yet registering any life within him, but knowing it was there anyway, and that it deserved only the best treatment possible. It was an heir to the Empire, after all. “What are we going to do?” he whispered, flinching when Liam unexpectedly sat down next to him.

“Isn’t it obvious? We go to England,” the Alpha said with a smirk.

“Huh?” Louis and Niall asked at the same time.

“Well, not yet. Louis needs to get past the first month mark, you can’t be wandering around until you’re further into your pregnancy. So we’ll just keep you relaxed and watch over you until you’re ready; but once everything’s set, we’re going to go to England. Of course. How the fuck else would we fix everything? We can’t do it from here.”

Louis had always figured that Liam would be the sensible one and try to dissuade everyone else for doing reckless things, but this was exactly what Louis had wanted to hear. “Really?” he asked excitedly, getting some hope back into his life.

“Zayn told me a thousand times never to go to England in search of them if the time came…but I don’t think he fully knew who I was…the kind of Alpha I am. It was always a winless battle with me. That’s exactly what I’m gonna do, and maybe he knew that,” Liam hypothesized as an afterthought, easily accepting the idea that Zayn may have discouraged it so much because he knew it would push Liam toward it more than anything.

“I’m so glad,” Louis whimpered, hiding his tears in the sleeve of the oversized Harry jumper that Niall had shoved down over his upper-half.

“But we can’t go yet,” Liam reminded, standing to get Louis’ plate of food and present it to him a second time. “This might feel disgusting, but you have to eat it anyway—just keep trying. You have to take really good care of yourself for at least a month, possibly a bit longer. I’m gonna teach you what little I know about fighting, and we’re going to figure it out when we’re ready. Going in now wouldn’t do any good at all, you know?” he explained reasonably, getting a reluctant nod from Louis.

“Then we’re storming the castle,” Louis said darkly, unbelievably determined to win back his Prince and live happily ever after like how all fairytales are supposed to end.

“You mean then we’re storming _your_ castle, Princess Louis?” Niall corrected, shocking Louis at first, and then making his confidence skyrocket even higher.

“You’re right,” Louis agreed, snatching the plate from Liam and scarfing the food down like it was the first meal of a brand new Louis. “ _My_ fucking castle.”

 

\---

 

“Look what you got yourself into,” Desmond said disapprovingly, glowering down at the Prince and his watchdog’s chained-up conditions from his raised throne. “Did you think I would show you mercy because you are my heir?”

Harry got a sharp kick to the ribs by Dax when he didn’t respond, and he groaned as he looked up to reluctantly give the King his confession. “No. I didn’t. Why do you think I went so far away from here?” he spat, fighting against the chains to no avail.

Desmond erupted into maddeningly inappropriate laughter and had to work to calm himself down before he could speak again. “You try so hard to defy me, but it will never work, Harry. I’m the King, and what I say goes. Or have you forgotten that on your little vacation?”

“What you say goes,” Harry muttered boredly, rolling his eyes and chuckling at his Father’s ignorance. “What you say is wrong. Everything you’re doing is wrong, and if you don’t think there’s a revolution coming your way, you’re even more stupid than I thought,” he warned, smirking when the King’s eyes squinted defensively.

“You’re mistaken if you think you’re going to be a part of that. You’re going to be spending your time in the dungeons with your precious rat, Timothy. You’ve gone too far, Harry, and I’m not forgiving this treason any time soon!” he shouted, motioning for Justin and Matthew to take them away.

“This isn’t over, Desmond,” Harry growled, evading Justin’s arms as best he could before getting captured anyway. “You have no idea what you have taken from me, you’ve made the most unfortunate mistake for yourself... You’ll see,” he threatened, finally giving up and getting dragged out with Zayn. “I’m gonna slap that crown right off your balding head, this country is _mine_ , I’m gonna destr—”

Harry’s words were cut off when the giant wooden doors were slammed closed as he was taken outside into the hall, effectively blocking him from any further taunting at his evil dictator of a Father.

“That was bloody brilliant,” Zayn praised, always down for anarchy.

“I’d call it brainless,” Matthew supplied, getting a grunt of approval from Justin.

“Yeah, you really don’t understand how this works. You seem to think you have an ace in the hole, but I can assure you that you don’t. You’re going to rot in prison for the rest of your Father’s term, and if his successor has any sense, long after that too. You’ve lost, Prince Harry, might as well wallow in self pity now, before you’re too disapp—”

Now it was Justin’s turn to get interrupted when Harry sent a foot flying out behind him to smash into the Captain’s unsuspecting knee. Justin yelped in shock as Dax’s subordinate guards, who had been silently frozen against the wall at their posts, came swarming Harry they were all in a game of rugby.

The Prince got tackled quite viciously to the ground with no regard to potential injuries to his bones, and Zayn definitely made his disapproval loud and clear, but the raging watchdog went ignored and heavily restrained in a similar manner.

“Harry!” Zayn called desperately, roaring when kicks were being pelted into his Prince’s sides.

Harry twisted his head to give him an accepting smile and affirm that he was not so easily beaten down, and the watchdog controlled his heartbroken tears and nodded his head. If his Prince could take it, then so could he.

Just when Harry really started to feel the pain, the guards released him and backed away, leaving him battered on the ground with no more energy to fight back.

“I hope you realize now just how stupid it would be to try that again,” Justin goaded, heaving him off the floor by the back of his collar and resuming their walk like nothing had happened.

Harry knew he had a fractured rib, but he would let Zayn take care of that when they got to their cell. It was a lucky thing in his favour that Zayn would be allowed with him, but it was even against prison rules to prevent a protector from staying with their royal master no matter the circumstance. They were bound by blood, and prison would never make that diminish, so there was no point in separating them.

Without Harry around him, Zayn may have gotten the miraculous strength to break free and get to him anyway, so there was really no other option for the guards. Unless they wanted to face a watchdog’s protective wrath, and nobody in their right mind would ever want that.

The pair were thrown into a dingy stone cell, and the metal bars were hastily shut and locked by Matthew before they could get back up and try to run out.

“Oh,” Justin exclaimed gleefully as he clapped his hands and cackled at the lividly confined wolves. “How I’ve waited to see this sight. This is just visionary perfection, look at them. Can’t do shit now, can you, you problematic bratty children,” he sneered, wiping his tears from laughing so hard and leaning against the cell door.

“I know this is an act, Justin, but you just took it way too far, and now your time is coming,” Harry said vaguely, not having a clue how he would see that through, but knowing that he would.

“Oh, I’m shaking in my boots,” Justin taunted in an annoyingly high-pitched voice, “Do you ever accept defeat?”

“The fuck do you think?” Zayn snarled, coming up behind his Prince and wrapping his arms around him, massaging his hips and kissing his shoulder.

Harry grabbed Zayn’s wrists and pulled them further across him, hugging himself with his watchdog’s arms and glaring at his old friend with everything he had, wishing that he had some kind of airborne ocular poison that could be transmitted with fiery eye contact.

“Have fun in denial then,” Justin chuckled, turning his back and exiting the dungeons, leaving all of his fellow guards to stand inside and keep a close watch on the prisoners.

“Welp,” Zayn announced, backing them up and sitting down on the shared bed they would use together. “Better go to your mind palace, figure a way out of this one,” he suggested, immediately granting the Prince with an appreciated back massage the second he sat down.

“I’ll come up with something, I swear. They can’t keep us in here forever,” Harry said surely, falling onto his side and taking his watchdog with him.

Zayn smiled in spite of his rage and took Harry in his arms, spooning him just like they always used to before they had Omegas. “You’re a Father, Harry. I know nothing could ever hold you forever. I will do anything, _anything_ , you ask of me. I have two mates in America, I’m in a similar boat,” Zayn whispered lowly so that the guards wouldn’t hear and make a fuss.

“I know you are, Z. I haven’t forgotten you’re feeling the same pain, don’t ever let me make you feel like my problems are more important than yours,” Harry sighed, turning around to face his closest Alpha on the planet.

Zayn smiled and placed a hand on the Prince’s cheek, nuzzling their noses together when Harry’s eyes closed in satisfaction. “We’ve certainly got ourselves into quite the pickle,” he noted, scooting their foreheads together and adjusting himself until he could get a blanket over them.

“I’m sorry I did this to you,” Harry groaned under the blanket while he hid in Zayn’s chest.

Zayn scoffed and threw his arm all the way around the Prince’s back, allowing him to hide from the world if he so chose. “I would have followed you off a cliff, Harry,” the watchdog professed, holding him closer when he felt the wetness of tears on his collarbones.

“I love you, Z.”

“Love you too, my Prince. Get some sleep, and then we’ll figure something out later. Our mates are waiting,” he said softly, petting the Prince’s hair and trying to lull him into sleep.

“My puppy is waiting,” Harry corrected incredulously, still finding it hard to believe he’d actually breeded his mate. Can’t blame him, he didn’t get much time with his Omega afterward. This was an important time in a bonding, but Desmond had taken that from him…he’s never going to let that go.

“Let him have a crazy story to tell his friends about his Father.”

“Not sure if Louis’ having my son or daughter, but _oh_ , they’ll have a tale,” Harry promised groggily, falling into a dreamless sleep not long after.

“Hopefully a happily ever after too,” Zayn added, closing his eyes and giving the fight up for now. _For now_.

 

\---

 

“Yes, it’s true,” Louis sighed into the phone. His Mother had called him first thing in the morning because she’d seen an article that apparently came out concerning the ‘Found Prince’.

“Oh, sweetie,” Joan whined, unseeingly holding a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry...is there anything we can do?”

Louis stayed silent for a few moments, running through all the things he wanted in his mind, but they all pertained to Harry, so there wasn’t really anything in anyone’s power to solve. “No…not at all. I do have some news though, and you should hear it, but I can’t make myself get out of bed. Do you think you could bring Lottie and Fizzy over here? I’ll text you the address.”

“Of course, love. We’ll leave right now,” she said, the sound of jangling keys coming through the phone.

“Okay, I’ll text you. Bye,” he said, not waiting for a reply before hanging up and opening his messages. They’d talk when the girls were all here. He texted her the address and was about to lie back down, but a churning in his stomach had other plans, and he pushed himself up and ran to the bathroom instead.

He knew Liam and Niall were right next door, but he didn’t feel like being a weak bitch and asking them for their support. If he couldn't handle a little puking, how would he be able to handle a rescue mission?

After ten awful minutes over the toilet bowl because he couldn’t tell if his body was done yet or not, he finally gave up and carefully flopped back into his bed. He knew he couldn’t try to sleep because it would get cut short and leave him with a headache, so he aimlessly scrolled through various newsfeeds before he heard a ring at his doorbell. “Alright,” he said aloud, tossing his phone onto the comforter and standing to walk to the living room and let his family in.

He opened the door to Niall frantically explaining to Liam that the strangers were Louis’ Mother and sisters, because evidently the Alpha was trying to force his way out the door to interrogate them.

“Liam, it’s okay,” Louis said straight at him, sighing when it seemed to appease him.

“Sorry, Lou. Don’t take well to visitors at the moment. Excuse me,” he apologized, nodding to the ladies and disappearing back inside.

“Understood. Thanks, Niall. I’ll let you know when you can come over,” he said to his Omega best friend, ushering his family inside before anything else had the chance to go wrong.

“Good thing he’s so protective, that made me really happy,” Joan said approvingly, looking around at the decor when her eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight. “Oh, this is lovely,” she exclaimed, following Louis into the kitchen when he didn’t wait for them. 

“How are you, Louis?” Lottie asked nervously.

Louis just shot her a look and she nodded in understanding. She wasn’t going to push it.

“We know,” Fizzy admitted, looking anywhere but at Louis’ eyes while Joan alternatively grabbed his face and stared right into his eyes.

“I’m so so so sorry, my baby boy! What are you going to do?” she asked as she pulled up a chair behind her at the kitchen table to join him in sitting. His sisters followed suit and then there were three pairs of eyes looking to him patiently.

“Well…I’m not sure. I’m going to get him back, is what I’m gonna do. But there’s a lot of planning and training that needs to happen before that. And I don’t want to hear you disadvise me because—”

“Go,” she said passionately, surprising every Omega in the room, “He’s your mate. He’d do anything and everything for you, and it’s your chance to return the favour. You do everything in your power to get him free, but just be careful,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“I’m also pregnant,” Louis blurted, not having the control to hold it back anymore because it was the most important thing in his life right now - apart from reuniting with his Alpha.

“Okay, then just be _extra_ carefu—PREGNANT?!” Joan screeched, backing up a few moments to address the crucial detail she’d skipped over properly registering. “Are you really!”

Louis gave a lopsided smile and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, simply because he didn’t have the energy to actually gush about it. He placed a hand on his stomach underneath his jumper and leaned back against his chair. “Yeah, I am. Harry forgot to make me take birth control, but I forgot to remind him, so…”

Joan’s light tears transformed into sobbing wails of joy and she cried into Louis’ neck while his glossy-eyed sisters rushed over from their chairs to create a group hug between the four of them.

There were too many nonsensical congratulations going on around him at once to decipher any individually, but he thanked them all the same. Their message was clear.

“When did this happen?” Joan asked when she pulled back and wiped at her face with the nearest napkin. Lottie and Fizzy sat in the closest chairs and scooted forward, resting their elbows on the table and gazing at him expectantly.

“My heat ended the day before he was taken. So…two days ago? I don’t even know anymore to be honest, my mind is really foggy,” he confessed, rubbing his eyes and running his fingers through his tangled hair.

“Oh, my poor Louis,” Joan breathed, grabbing onto his wrists and holding his hands atop the table’s surface. “You must be exhausted.”

“I am. And I can’t stop throwing up. And I can’t remember where I put anything. And I can’t—”

“It’ll pass. I promise. Everything physically is a disaster right now, but there’s a sweet spot after the first few weeks and the time that you start showing. Oh, Harry should be here,” she said despairingly, chorused by nods from her daughters.

“Yeah,” Louis agreed dejectedly, sighing at the ceiling and pulling his hands away from his Mother’s to return them to his stomach. “But we have a child. He’ll be with me eventually, you can’t tear something like that in half forever.”

“No, you can’t,” Joan agreed, unbelievably proud that Louis was showing so much maturity even though all he probably wanted to do is give up and cry. “I believe in you, son. Whatever you have to do, you’ll do it right, I know it.”

“What, do I have some kind of infallible Mother’s instinct now?” Louis chuckled, receiving a deadpanned serious expression from Joan.

“Yes.”

“Oh,” Louis said in a high-pitched tone, sitting up straighter and giving his Mom a look that begged for an explanation.

“You can’t go wrong when it comes to your child. Any decision you make for it, especially when the little one is still inside of you, will always be the right one. By default. You’re a Mother now, you can’t ever endanger your pup. Your very nature won’t allow it. So don’t worry about making decisions, just go with your heart,” she finished, cheering Louis up more with every word.

“Thanks, Mom,” he forced past the lump in his throat.

“No problem, Mama,” Joan replied with a wink, finally dragging a genuine grin out of her son.

“Now, let’s have lunch? Are you hungry? I'm not, but I'll definitely try. I’ll tell Niall and Liam to bring over all their food,” he said uncaringly, commencing unanimous laughter around him.

Maybe the times ahead would be troubling. Maybe they would be on the very doorstep of impossible. Maybe every single thing would go wrong before it went right, but Louis knew that he would succeed in the end. He would succeed for Harry, for himself, and for their child. That’s almost too much pressure to even think about being crushed under. With his family’s help, Louis knew he could do anything.

Starting with holding down a damn meal.


	9. Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hella short, my bad.

“I don’t mean to be demanding my Prince, but have any solutions passed the test of likelihood in your mind yet? It’s been almost a month now, surely you’ve thought of a few things,” he said carefully, immediately bowing to his Prince when the Alpha shot him a warning glare. Zayn had to step around glass with him lately because the Alpha had been in a perpetually agitated mood, which the watchdog understood, but it didn’t make him any more comfortable.

“Has it been that long,” the Alpha mused tonelessly, having lost track of time almost as soon as he’d been thrown in this dingy cell. The hours had turned into days, that turned into weeks, and now he was hearing that his Omega was one month pregnant without him. “Of the essence…”

“My Lord?”

“Of the essence,” Harry repeated, shocked he’d said it out loud at all, “Time is of the essence. Everything is. No, I haven’t come up with anything that doesn’t get us killed. I’ve been doing nothing but watching the schedules and daily actions of the guards, and the fuckers are flawless in their shift changes, everything is perfect, we’re never gonna-”

“Stop,” Zayn pleaded, throwing his arms around his Prince and straddling his lap to distract him. “Don’t talk like that, My Grace—”

“And what's with your royal speak lately?” he interrupted to ask his watchdog, who had been regarding him with the full formalities ever since they'd returned.

Zayn looked a bit lost for words and glanced around pointedly, making it clear that to him, it was a stupid question. “We're in the castle, My Lord…”

“Alright, whatever,” the Prince sighed, running a hand through his curly hair and establishing expectant eye contact. “Please, do continue with your comforts.”

“...You know we’ll figure out a way. There’s always a fucking way, don’t lose hope now. Your puppy can’t afford your lack of faith,” he said, getting straight to the point to hopefully knock some sense into the discouraged Alpha.

Harry let out a shuddery sigh and smacked his forehead into his watchdog’s chest, accepting the embrace and making no other movements, content to sit there as long as Zayn would let him. “You’re right,” he agreed, trying to find the notoriously elusive positive side of things. “I wonder how Louis is doing at one month,” he wondered, picturing it in his mind and grinning from the absolute perfection of the scene that showed itself before him in his imagination.

It was a scene of his beautiful mate relaxing in a warm bath, playing with the rose petals that floated on the surface of the water and rubbing at his stomach in adoration. _I know you look beautiful right now, Louis. No matter what you’re doing. I bet it’s spectacular._

 

~~~

 

“I fucking know how to fucking punch, you son of a bitch, fucking teach me something new for fucks sake!” Louis screeched, angrily kicking Liam in the shin and collapsing onto the bench in the gym. He was covered in sweat and his hair was sticking up like a porcupine, exhausted from all the strenuous training he’d done today.

Liam apologized profusely, but he didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of Louis doing much more intricate fighting training in his condition. The Omega already looked tired enough, and all of this would turn pointless if it hurt the baby in the process.

The Mother knew his little son was perfectly healthy, but he did appreciate the sentiment - he knew why Liam was hesitating, and it was admittedly admirable of him. The Omega yanked his snacks out of the bag and walked to the corner of the mostly unoccupied gym to munch until he had nothing left.

Louis’ hunger was noteworthy lately in its consistency, and it seemed never-ending, so who was Louis to deny himself? He deserved it anyway—he’d been working so hard all month to get strong enough to fight his way in and through a damn castle, so indulging in nutritious snacks in his downtime was well earned.

Niall and Liam dove into their sparring when the Omega landed a sneak-attack because the Alpha’s back was turned to study Louis and his energy level to decipher what he should and shouldn’t do. Liam really shouldn’t ever turn his back, not with Niall around, but his pride for his mate outweighed his embarrassment for getting caught.

“Let’s do this at home,” Louis suddenly called, having been hit with a formidable woozy spell that prohibited him from standing.

Liam sensed his disconnection from fully present and dashed over to kneel in front of the Princess. “Are you okay?” he asked, taking a look into his spacey eyes and sighing. “You shouldn’t overwork yourself,” he scolded, helping Louis to his feet and indicating to Niall that was time to go.

The Omega ran around and grabbed all of their stuff, following the two out the door and into the cold night air.

“I should, actually,” Louis negated, glaring at the moon because he knew that Harry wasn’t even seeing the same thing, he was so far away. “I need to get Harry back, there’s nothing else on this fucking planet that matters more.”

“Louis, I get it,” Niall agreed, running around to be on Louis’ other side and offer extra support. “But what good would it do if you’re _too_ burned out? Keep it reasonable.”

“I know my limits,” he grumbled, snarling when Liam busted out in shrill cackling.

“Oh, bull _shit_ , Louis. You don't even know what limit _means_! You passed out just three days ago,” the Alpha needlessly reminded.

“Yeah, and I'm _fine_ ,” Louis urged, gesturing to his body to prove that he was, in fact, still here.

“Harry’s gonna kill me,” Liam groaned in dread.

“Yeah, yeah,” Louis sassed, reacting as if his Mother were berating him on getting his schoolwork done. “Trust me, I understand your point…I just hate sitting around. It feels wrong, we should be leaving by now.”

“We’ll leave soon,” Liam assured, reaching the car and helping the weary Princess into the back of it. “I promise you, Louis. Soon, alright? Don’t think Zayn hasn’t been dancing through my mind—Niall’s too. We’re all in this together,” he reminded as he shut the door and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Am I selfish?” Louis asked sadly once they were on the road.

“No, Lou,” Niall instantly denied, turning in his seat and reaching back to grab Louis’ hand. “You’re determined. Same as us.”

“I forget you’re going through the same pain as I am,” Louis pressed, hanging his head in shame for completely invalidating his brothers’ similar feelings of incompletion.

“You’re also pregnant, and really fucking moody,” the blonde teased, at least getting the Princess to look up and give him a tiny smile.

“Harry’s lucky he’s not around me, or I’d fucking let him have it,” Louis chuckled, staring out the window at the whizzing trees, welcoming the waves of nausea it brought because it made him feel alive.

“Well don’t let him get off that easy,” Niall said, giving Louis’ hand a squeeze before turning back to sit in his seat properly and hold his Alpha’s instead. One of his Alpha’s, anyway. “Give him fiery hell when you see him.”

Louis’ hand wandered to his stomach to rub at the part of Harry he had within him that never left no matter where he went. He had fantasies of punching his Alpha in the face the second he was in arms distance, but he knew it was bullshit. He would no doubt cry and hug him first while kissing him madly. _Then_ a good solid punch directly afterward.

“Seventh circle,” Louis responded, grinning at the giggle it brought out of his Omega brother. Louis may give Harry an overload of his mood swings, but he wouldn’t give him pointless hell, regardless of how good it sounded now. This wasn’t his fault. There is only one person who will encounter Louis’ pure and unfiltered rage out of this whole situation. Only one person that drove Louis’ violent urges to pitifully containable levels, and only one person he’d ever actually let it all out on:

The fucking King.

 

\---

 

“Louis!” Niall called, knocking on the Omega’s bedroom door a bit before barging in anyway. He found the Princess sprawled out on his bed and still snoring, and he howled into the room to wake him up.

Louis shot up and grabbed his head, already suffering a migraine from getting woken up so forcefully. “Fuck, Niall. What the hell is your—”

“Would you get up? We have to go to the airport like now,” Niall pressed, walking around and getting Louis some clothes to throw on.

“Shit!” the Princess cursed, standing to get ready—oh, but not before puking. “God damnit,” he muttered, sprinting to the bathroom for his daily retching.

“Here, wear these,” Niall suggested, setting the clothes outside the door and averting his eyes. “I’m gonna put your suitcase in the car, it’s already warmed up. We grabbed some food as well, so just hurry up, okay?” he said, heaving Louis’ suitcase out of the room and down the hall.

“Oh, yeah, don’t mind me. I’ll just _puke faster_ , how’s that sound?” he yelled after the blonde, immediately contracting over the bowl again.

 

\---

 

A haphazardly clothed Louis popped out of his front door five minutes later, locking it and shuffling toward the car that Niall and Liam were already sitting inside of. “Okay, go,” he said as he climbed into the backseat and pulled the door shut as he fell down on his side.

“You don’t feel nauseous, do you?” Niall asked, poking his head over the back of his seat.

Liam turned the heater down and backed out of the driveway, jostling Louis when he shifted into first gear and lurched forward.

Louis almost laughed at the awful timing of the question, but a miserable groan spilled out instead. “What the fuck do you think?” he asked bitterly.

“Sorry, Lou. Engine’s still a little cold,” Liam said apologetically, shrugging his shoulders defensively when Niall glared at him.

The blonde reached a hand and caressed Louis’ upper arm, giving him a sympathetic whine. “Poor baby.”

Louis scoffed and wrapped his arms around his stomach, rolling to face the ceiling. “No, the baby is fine. It’s me that’s fucked.”

“You know what I mean, you smartass,” Niall chuckled, smiling when Louis finally sat up and put his seatbelt on.

“Yeah, just drive. Let me suffer,” Louis said tightly, staring out the window and trying to calm his queasiness, as if it’s something he could control. “I’m gonna kill you, Harry.”

 

\---

 

“Damnit, which fucking gate was it?” Louis barked, snatching the plane tickets out of Liam’s hand and squinting at the information.

“Uh…B, wasn’t it?” Liam asked carefully, always trying to evade being the target of Louis’ mood swings at any cost. He’d learned the hard way many times over.

“It’s _C_ , you fucking blockhead,” Louis snapped, turning around and walking the other direction. “You trying to get us killed?”

Liam almost responded, but Niall shot him a warning look and tugged on his sleeve to hurry the journey along.

They ended up being so late that the lines to board the plane were already being led in, but that was actually a good thing. Louis is not a patient Omega. They finally stepped into the plane and walked all the way to the back to the only empty row of seats left, and Louis took the window one for claustrophobia reasons. You’d think he would want to take the alley one then, but he wasn’t always making the most sense as of late.

Louis will always be impressed that he didn’t hurl from the take off, considering all it took to set him off was the very act of opening his eyes in the morning, but surprisingly, it felt nice - like a warm hug on his tummy. Niall and Liam were just as confused, but when life gives you gifts, you don’t question them.

Louis glared hard at the stewardess who came to ask them if they wanted pretzels. The only thing Louis had been looking forward to on this flight was peanuts, and this bitch was now telling him that they didn’t _have_ any peanuts, and this was about to get ugly.

Before Louis could unhook his seatbelt and lunge at the human, Niall butted in and accepted the pretzels, asking for an additional gingerale because "Louis here has a stomachache," and he gets "angry without his gingerale."

The woman nodded skeptically and trotted off, leaving Louis in an awkward staring contest with his Omega brother, but Niall discredited his fierce glowering and slapped a crossword booklet in the Princess’ lap to keep him busy.

As soon as Louis had sipped the last of his gingerale, he passed out against Niall’s shoulder, where he remained for the entire flight to Virginia. They obviously had one layover, and as long as they could carry Louis to the next gate, they’d be fine.

 

\---

 

The day had been a long and arduous airport process that included getting their layover delayed for an extra three hours, and Liam not being able to find his bag in Virginia. All had luckily worked out, and they were finally gliding over the land of England, making their way to Manchester, because the only information they had was that both the Prince and the watchdog were Northerners. Gotta start somewhere...

Louis shot awake from his tenth or more nap of the day when they began their descent, marveling at the English city lights that were gradually getting closer. “We’re in…we’re in…”

“England,” Niall joyfully announced, leaning over to gaze out the window with his brother. Both Omegas were ecstatic that their Alphas were now one step closer, and Liam was just as giddy, but he had to keep up appearances.

The three wolves were almost shivering with anticipation to get out into the English air, and it took an entire lifetime for them to get off the plane, get their bags, and travel through the airport to the exit, but when they did… “FUCK!” Louis cried, dropping his things to take in a deep breath of his future home’s atmosphere. He was that confident.

“Shit, it’s cold,” Niall whined, purring against Liam’s chest when the Alpha opened his jacket and enveloped his Omega inside of it. “What now?” he asked, looking up at his calculating mate.

“I guess we get a hotel of some kind,” Liam guessed, looking in both directions and questioning which way to go.

“Flag a cabbie,” Louis ordered, thankful that this is a country that excessively incorporates those into their daily lives. “We don’t have to call one, I’m sure one will show up.”

“You should put a jacket on, Lou,” Niall scolded, leaving the warmth of his mate to fish Louis’ sweater out of his carry-on. “Put that on.”

“Cab! Guys, let’s go,” Liam called, jumping up and down like a kangaroo to catch the driver’s attention. The cabbie pulled to the curb and popped the boot, waiting patiently for the patrons to get all their stuff in.

While Niall and Liam were playing boot tetris with their bulky suitcases, Louis found himself staring at the moon that was blasting through the clouds. He wrapped his arms around his upper body and cocked his head at the luminescent orb in the sky, wondering if Harry might be looking at it too. Unfortunately, that only happens in movies, and he scoffed at himself for getting that cringey.

He couldn’t actually stop himself though and he looked right back to it, giving it a message to give to his mate. “Tell him I’m here…did you hear that, Harry? I even brought your kid. You better be ready.”

“Louis, what are you doing? Come on, get in,” Liam said expectantly, holding the door open and waving for him to get inside.

Louis spent one more concentrated second squinting his eyes at the moon before sighing and approaching the car. He slid in next to his blonde and leaned his head on his shoulder, letting the Omega pet his hair in a soothing manner. “Won’t be long now,” he whispered into Louis’ ear.

“This feels right. I feel like we had the right idea going North. Still a big place, but we’ve got time,” he said tiredly, not opposed to falling victim to yet another nap before fully sleeping for the night.

“Do you think they feel us?” Niall asked, getting a strange feeling in his neck that hadn’t activated since Zayn had been taken away.

“They’re about to,” Louis warned, sharing a smirk with his brother as they simultaneously shot their bite hormones into overdrive because they could now, equivalent to sending out that bat signal Louis had been talking about.

For controlling the world, the Empire was pretty stupid to not put a ban on the mates entering the country. Perhaps they didn’t know who they were messing with, perhaps they didn’t think anything could ever threaten their authority, but they hadn’t properly met Louis yet.

If they liked conflict so damn much, Louis would give them the grand finale.

 

~~~

 

Harry and Zayn gasped as they woke up in each other’s arms, thrashing their way out of the miniscule sheet they were given for warmth, and stumbling to the middle of the room, fixing their eyes to the ceiling where the moon would be shining from if they weren’t in an underground dungeon. Goosebumps covered their skin, and both wolves were panting from something they couldn’t quite put their finger on, but they had an idea...

“Do you feel like they’re…” Zayn began, locking gazes with the wide-eyed Prince.

“Closer?” Harry finished, blinking several times in quick succession before falling against the wall and sliding his back down to sit on the floor. He gripped his hair and concentrated on his mate, barely registering his watchdog press their sides together because he’d joined him on the ground. They were both in the exact same focused state of mind, and they couldn’t possibly know for sure, but the Prince’s instincts had never led him astray.

If Harry thought hard enough, he could almost smell his mate on his skin, and hear his bubbly laughter in the room, and this only made the Prince’s ache for his Omega tens times worse than it had been this entire month. He needed him back, and he needed him now. _Louis, where are you?_


	10. The Resistance, Of Course

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Louis gets some helpful guidance.

Louis woke up to his alarm, but it took him a very long time to register why he opened his eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. The events over yesterday came rushing back into his mind, and he flew out of bed to look out the window. Yeah, that was England, alright.

Liam and Niall had slept through his alarm and were cuddled together on their separate bed, and as much as the Princess supported their relationship, witnessing cuddling when he couldn’t have any was not something he wanted on his plate.

Speaking of plate, he was eager to try out some of Britain’s tea shops and cafes for some classic English breakfast, but not before throwing up. His violent hacking coincidentally woke the couple in the room, and they were already lazily dressed by the time Louis reemerged from the bathroom.

“Is that ever gonna stop?” Niall said sadly, frowning at his fellow Omega in sympathy.

“When I’m dead,” Louis tonelessly responded, shooing Liam out of sight so he could change his clothes. “Listen, I was thinking we could go around town a little bit, see if we can’t find anything or anyone that would know something of value.”

“That’s a good idea, Lou,” Niall seconded, calling Liam back in the room when Louis was decent. “Babe, can you look up cafes on the wolf browser? No use walking into human-infested establishments to find the Empire.”

Liam nodded and opened his phone, falling into an armchair and pursing his lips as he scrolled for the closest one. “You know, there are gonna be at least _some_ humans,” the Alpha reminded, not noticing Niall’s tired eyeroll.

“Yes, Liam. They’re everywhere. I get that.”

“Just sayin’.”

“Where do we go?” Louis asked, breaking up the banter before it got stupid.

“Well, I think we may be in luck,” he mused, double checking their location and that of the cafe, “Yeah, just a block away. That’s mad perfect.”

“Let’s go,” Louis said engagingly, even swinging his arm like a windmill to try and urge them faster.

“Okay, we’re coming,” Liam chuckled, taking Niall under his arm and following Louis out the door.

 

\---

 

The walk had been a cold one, but the address had been correct, and Louis sighed when he was met with the comforting warmth of the tea/bakery combination business. He went straight for an open table, plopping himself down in the unforgiving wooden chair and laying his head on his forearms.

“Just get me like…a muffin? I don’t know, whatever looks good. Decaf tea. No sugar. Please just make it happen,” Louis sighed, thankful his Omega friend was not the type to question.

“Leave it to me,” Niall sung, skipping over to join Liam in the small queue.

Louis could tell there were other wolves here, but they didn’t seem to pay them much mind, so he paid them no mind either. The ones that stood out were the ones that came barreling in through the side door and jumping into the table behind him. They were are all rowdy Alphas, which was distracting in and of itself, but what really grabbed Louis’ undivided attention was their conversation.

To back up ten seconds, the very first thing Louis heard when the door opened was one of them declaring, “Down with the bloody Red King,” so it was pretty safe to guess what they were discussing, and Louis eavesdropped harder than he ever had in his life to catch every word. He turned his head to the side just enough to be able to sort of catch them in his peripherals, and waited to get more information before making himself known.

“You seen Ennie?” one asked in a thick London accent.

“Nah, me nae seen her, dinna where that lass went,” a thick-accented Scotsman responded.

“She didn’t get caught,” one said nervously, seemingly hoping to have his suspicions denied.

“No, I don’t reckon,” the first replied, lowering his voice for his next statement, but Louis was far too tuned into them for that to make a difference. “Timothy woulda said somefin’, yeah?”

“Oi, are we forgettin’ Timoffy haven’t said nuffink?” another apparent and much deeper Londoner challenged, earning silence from the rest of his group. “Little Tims ain’t said one blasted word fer a monff.”

“You know wot else happened a month ago?” the nervous and properly enunciated one asked knowingly.

“‘Arry got himself dragged back…you don’t fink it was Timmy. You fink Timmy ratted, do ya?” one of the Londoners asked, forgive Louis for not keeping track.

“Ye know he wouldn’t,” the Scottish one defended heatedly.

“What if it wasn’t his choice? What if the King tortured him for intel? The guards will fookin’ do _anyfin_ ’ to—”

“What do you know about Harry?” Louis demanded, cutting one of them off and spinning around and all the way out of his chair, walking over to their table and slamming his hands down on the surface.

“Sorry, but who the bloody hell are—”

“I’m his mate, damnit. I’m the fucking Princess, now tell me where I can find him,” Louis said impatiently to the four speechless wolves, Liam and Niall rushing over to join the discussion.

“Wait, wait, wait,” one of the Londoners with an adorable amount of freckles said slowly, interlocking his fingers and setting his elbows on the table, touching his lips to his hands and staring Louis down with the most calculated gaze the Omega had received in a while. “Prove it.”

“Excuse me? How the fuck am I supposed to prove it? He’s in prison, it’s not like I can call him up on his phone—”

“Wait, Louis, I know!” Niall said brightly, fishing through his messenger bag to locate his phone, explaining himself as he scrolled through his camera roll. “I took this picture when you two were on the blanket that day at the picnic? Took a couple actually,” holding the phone victoriously to the assumed superior of the cafe squad, Sir Freckles.

“Fuckin’ shite, is ‘Arry,” the Scot exclaimed over the other’s shoulder, Niall smugly nodding in response.

“And here,” Niall added, taking the phone back just enough to get to the pictures of Liam, Zayn, and himself on that same day. “Zayn is our mate.”

“Well, I’ll be fucked,” the Freckles breathed, handing the phone back and hesitantly leaning into the Princess to confirm it all by his scent.

Louis hardly wanted anyone near his mark, but he understood the relevance, so he leaned forward and pulled his scarf away from his neck, letting the freckled stranger scent his neck for the final piece of evidence.

“That’s Harry,” he said as he pulled away, staring at the Omega in fascination.

“Who are you?” he asked the group, eyeing each of them carefully.

“The Resistance, of course,” the previously nervous one proudly announced, getting a slap on the back from the Scot for saying it so loudly in the presence of customers.

“Just you?” Louis asked in disbelief.

“No, you git—er, fuck—I mean…Princess,” Freckles spluttered, looking down in shame.

“Call me Louis,” the Omega insisted, pulling his blonde into his side to introduce them all, “And this is Niall, and one of his Alphas, Liam.”

“Me name’s Marius,” Freckles said with a smile, crossing a hand over his heart and giving the tiniest of bows.

“Fergus,” the Scot informed, giving an even subtler bow of respect.

“I’m Troye,” the nervous and doe-eyed one piped, barely able to meet Louis’ eyes.

“Benjamin,” the other cockney one said with pride, honoured beyond measure to be in the presence of the unknown Princess.

“Alright, now that we’ve got that outta way, no, we’re part of a much larger group, I promise that,” Marius informed with satisfaction, still amazed that they’d managed to join so many to their cause in such a short amount of time.

Louis scarfed his muffin down in one impressive bite, and basically took a shot of his whole mug of tea, noisily setting it back down and looking Marius dead in the face. “Take me to your leader.”

“Hah, okay,” Marius chuckled, lifting his jacket off the back of his chair and putting his scarf back on.

“I’ve always wanted to say that,” Louis whispered to the giggly Niall, following the Resistance out of the cafe and to their van.

“You’re lucky we brought the van, or this would be a really squished ride,” Benjamin said, opening up the back and hopping in first. The American wolves were hoisted up afterward and they all sat in reasonable quiet, Niall catching Louis by the shoulder every time a turn would jostle him.

“You okay?” he whispered, looking to Louis’ stomach and back up to his face.

“Yeah, I’ll probably throw up as soon as we’re outside, but I’m brilliant,” the Princess assured, not letting his squeamish stomach tarnish his excitement at instantly finding the group he had been hoping existed over here in England.

 

\---

 

The vehicle eventually stopped and Marius opened the back, holding a hand out and helping Louis down first. Louis smiled his thanks and calmly walked a few metres away, violently puking into the nearest rubbish bin.

“Whoa, you alright, fam? He alright?” Ben asked in concern, sympathy clear in his eyebrows.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Niall said surely, moving to put a comforting arm around Louis’ shoulders when he finished. “Common side-effect of pregnancy, isn’t that right, Lou?”

Louis sighed and removed Niall’s arm, standing straight and taking deep breaths now that he could.

“Shite,” Fergus breathed, coming to level with the Princess with his hands on his shoulders. “You are?”

Louis nodded his head and the other UK-born wolves gasped, cheering for the heir they didn’t know they had—inside of the Princess they didn’t know they had.

“I bloody knew it!” Marius said confidently, kneeling to the Princess and holding his hand with both of his. “I knew I smelled pregnant on you. I hereby pledge my everlasting loyalty to you and your pup, yeah? We fight the Kingdom to take back our rights, and take back our freedom, but we fight for you,” he passionately declared.

Louis blushed hard and nervously spluttered around his response, but thankfully he was interrupted before the squeaking could begin.

“And what is this?” a voice called from the door of the pub they had arrived at. “If you don’t mind me asking zat, of course.”

“Angel!” Marius greeted, leading Louis in by the hand he was still holding and encouraging everyone else to follow.

Louis was pulled into a very classic looking pub with lavish couches and furniture, the bar itself probably costing a fortune if going by its gleam. He was led to sit down on a red couch and the room full of people swarmed around him to hear his story.

Before he could retell it himself, Marius had already leapt into the explanations, “This here’s Louis, Harry’s mate and Princess of the Empire. Save the choking, it’s right true. That there’s Neil and Liam, they’s wiv Zayn, you get me?” he announced, earning a throat clearing from the blonde Omega.

“Niall,” he corrected tiredly, shaking his head because apparently it didn’t matter what country he was in, he was always Neil first.

“Right, Niall, sorry. They came here from America and found us in the Old Hole, so’s we’re gonna help find the Prince, yeah?” Marius asked, clapping because of the chorus of cheers, holding a hand up to add something. “Louis here’s carrying Harry’s child and heir, okay? You’d do well to remember that. Now, everyone to work, I need to speak wiv Angel,” he said, effectively interspersing the forty or so wolves in the pub to different locations.

“Oui?” Angel asked in his slight French accent, muttering about respect when Marius roughly shoved him down to sit on the couch across from the Princess. “Zat is just what zey call me, by ze way. I’m Enjoles, nice to meet you,” he said with the brightest smile Louis had seen in awhile.

“The pleasure’s mine, Enjoles,” Louis said politely, holding his hand out to shake it.

“Please, call me Angel,” the French said with a shrug, indicating he just figured he’d add his real name, but that he didn’t necessarily want it.

“Okay, Angel,” Louis chuckled, leaning back against the couch when all was said and done, waiting for "Neil" and Liam to have their introductions with Angel as well.

“Alright, so…” Marius began, not sure where to start on their objective and strategy. “We’re gonna…storm the castle. Basically.”

“Great, when?” Louis asked eagerly, ready to accept any plan of action, even the lack of one.

“Oh, well. I’ll let Angel take over from here,” Marius said, jogging over behind the bar and pouring himself a mixed drink.

“Okay, the castle is a fortress, obviously there aren’t guards everywhere surrounding it because it’s just supposed to be owned by some really rich family,” Angel explained, trying hard to keep the incessant z’s out of his speech. “We have a website that’s nowhere near our special browsers, so I don’t think we’ve been found at all, which is really good because we can’t afford it.”

“How many people are on the site?” Louis asked curiously, liking the sound of this so far.

“I’d say actively…about two hundred people make up the Resistance, but you must think, out of those people, who would actually fight their way to have a revolution? Not likely all of them, and maybe even most will not do anything if it starts. Only if it gets big, right?”

Louis nodded and thought it over, offhandedly enjoying the fact that a Frenchman was talking about revolting against the government, and would be leading the group of wolves who would do it. It’s just so very French of him.

“So everyone in here that you see, are the people that have no problem giving their life to the cause—”

“Whoa, wait,” Louis interrupted in shock, “Give their lives? It’s hardly necessary to give your life for some birth control and heat suppressants,” he argued.

“Ah…but that’s not all it is, is it? That was just the beginning,” Marius supplied, taking a seat on the top of the couch and setting his feet down on the cushions.

“Shit, what else?” Louis asked nervously, steeling himself for more reports of inequality.

Nobody seemed to want to answer the question, but the American wolves couldn’t be left out of the know. They needed to know the severity of the situation, so Marius took the job. “What’s in the underground at the moment, is a law being planned and carefully executed, right? They’ve been workin’ on this a while now, and the beginning stages are gettin’ it closer. It’s basically to put all unmated Omegas after their first heat in camps disguised as orphanages and community houses and that. So that unmated Alphas can come and take their picks without questions. Total ownership,” he said angrily, glaring off into the distance.

“It can’t be. No, I won’t let that happen,” Louis shouted, standing up and crossing his arms in fear. “That’s fucking terrible.”

“Aye, ‘tis,” Fergus agreed, knocking back a shot of what was probably whiskey. “It’s why we’ve gotta take a stand. This can’t happen.”

“I wonder what he’s doing now,” Louis mused sadly, picturing his wonderful mate locked up in a cell with limited provisions. “I wonder if he knows about this.”

“Well, we can’t know,” Marius gritted, cursing the enormous battle they were all faced with. “Timothy hasn’t contacted us in a long time, so we dunno if he was captured or not… but I’m guessing probably. And he was our only connection to the Empire after Zayn and Harry left.”

“How did you guys know about each other at all?” Louis inquired.

“Well, we started the website, and Timothy eventually found it. We were a bit put off when he contacted us for the first time, ‘cuz we didn’t fink we could trust the little bugger, but he proved his loyalty and started workin’ from the inside. Eventually formed a total alliance, and helped get the two out of the country wiv our connections to smugglers. Real nice lads, they was.”

“Okay. But you needed Timothy to get into the castle,” Louis guessed, humming when he got nods of confirmation. “You’ll just have to change your plan, then,” he said easily, reaching for his glass of water and massaging his stomach. “Look, I’m pregnant with Harry’s pup, and I need my mate. I haven’t seen him in a month, so I don’t care how hesitant you guys are, we’re all gonna come up with the best plan ever, because a pregnant Omega is a formidable opponent against Alpha guards. I promise you that,” he growled.

“I quite fancy you,” Marius chuckled, pulling a notebook from his bag and dropping it onto the coffee table, clicking a pen and meeting their eyes. “We’re just as passionate as you, for different reasons. We never would have let the loss of Timothy affect our ultimate resolve for good. We were always gonna come up wiv summat else, but now we have the perfect addition. You three could bring down this whole thing, and we’re happy to have you. Shall I tell you what we’ve been thinking?”

Louis set his glass down and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and smirking at Marius with mischief and determination in his zealous blue eyes. “Talk.”

 

~~~

 

“I wonder what they’re doing,” Harry mused, hanging upside-down over the side of his bed while Zayn did his daily push up regiment.

“If you keep...leaning like that, you’re gonna— get a headache,” the watchdog warned out of concern, gritting the words out with his heaving breath.

Harry squinted his eyes at him in irritation, but sighed and rolled over onto his stomach, hanging forward now instead of backward.

Zayn took a second to glance over at him, and he wished he hadn’t. The Prince was so incredibly pouty and adorable; his arms hanging as lifelessly as his upper-body, and knees bent with delicately crossed ankles swaying back and forth in boredom. It was the most precious thing Zayn had seen since losing his mates, and he fell straight onto his stomach when his arms gave out.

The watchdog crawled over to his Prince and gently lifted his chin to meet his eyes. “You’ll get a headache like that too,” he tsked, pushing him all the way onto the bed and brushing his messy hair off his reddened face.

“I miss him, Z,” the Prince whined, manhandling his watchdog down onto the bed to cuddle with him. He wrapped his arms and legs around the Alpha like a koala and smashed his face into his armpit, temporarily giving up on life.

“I miss Niall too. I miss all three of those wolves,” Zayn admitted, yearning to cry out his frustration, but staying committed to being the strong one.

“Do you think we’re going crazy? I keep sensing him, am I just nuts? Is it the dreary life of prisonhood that’s giving me hallucinations of what I want most?” he muffled, lifting his face just enough to peer into his protector’s eyes.

Zayn hummed in consideration as he went through the logistics of it all. “Well, it happened at the exact same time for us. Kinda odd to have that simultaneous reaction if it didn’t mean anything, right?”

Harry sniffed and buried his face again, loudly sighing as Zayn ran his hands all over the Prince’s back, trying to give him as much physical contact as he could. “I guess,” he muttered, not convinced, but praying with everything that he was for Zayn to have the right idea.

“Fuck, even if we are in some strange matrix, isn’t sensing them in any way better than not at all? Even if it’s not real?” Zayn reasoned, perhaps making the situation more hopeless, but still attempting to bring at least one positive factor into things.

“I suppose you have a point,” Harry admitted, almost moaning when he looked into his soul to feel the hum of his bond to his Omega.

“If they really are here, then we’ll be with them soon. And even if they aren’t, we’re gonna find a way out of this, okay? I promise,” Zayn assured, tightening his hold and resting his face against Harry’s disaster of hair.

The Prince didn’t respond for a while, and just when Zayn thought he wouldn’t at all, Harry cleared his throat and uttered two very commanding and almost threatening words, “Be right.”

 

~~~

 

One week had passed, and the Resistance had gone through the plans and counterplans so many times that Louis was reciting the details in his sleep. Everyone was anxiously wringing their hands together because it was now the night before the Revolution would take place.

They were to head out at seven in the morning to drive across town to the castle and that’s where everything would go nuts. As soon as Louis would get into that van, there would be no turning back. There were so many things that could possibly go wrong, but there was this small sliver of a chance for actual change, and the Omega was holding onto that like like he would fall off a cliff if he didn’t.

That tiny opportunity was the only thing that was driving everyone to actually go through with this, and it was a unanimous belief that the benefits it could bring outweighed all the negative consequences they might suffer. Especially Louis, who had his entire lifetime hanging by a thread of potential success. Not to mention the fate of his entire gender in his hands...

“You okay, Lou?” Niall asked, noticing that the Princess hadn’t said a word in well over an hour.

Louis slowly looked over to his friend and blinked his eyes to get everything into focus. “Yeah, I’m just…yeah, I’m alright,” he said unsurely, furrowing his eyebrows and idly brushing his knuckles back and forth across his lips in thought.

“It’s going to be okay. I want to promise that, but I can’t really…but I believe in us,” the blonde said passionately, leaning back into Liam’s chest.

“I do too,” the Alpha seconded, all heads turning to Marius and Fergus when they walked back into the main room from the back.

“Alright, lads. We’ve set up a bed for you lot back there, and we’ll sleep on the couches. Everyone else is in nearby hotel rooms, and they’ll be here by seven. I’ve sent out the post wiv the time and location, so anyone too far away is likely on their way right now. I dunno, we’ve done all we can, now we should just get some sleep,” Marius said with a shrug, leading them to the back.

“‘Night,” Fergus called, flopping down on the couch and closing his eyes, forcefully chasing sleep.

“Thanks for everything you’ve done, Marius,” Louis said when they got situated on the bed. “We wouldn’t have known exactly what to do without you.”

“Don’t mention it, Princess. I’m just gobsmacked that fate put you in that cafe that mornin’, yeah? Gotta be destiny, and that. I don’t even fink it’s luck, you were meant to find us. We’ll protect you, alright? Everyone’s gonna do their best to make this work, so just worry about ‘Arry, we’ll worry about you,” he said, standing with his hand by the lightswitch, “Anyfing else before I leave?”

Louis looked to his friends to see if they had any ideas, but he got two shaking heads, so that answers that. “No, thank you. We’re good. I’m not a morning person, so just make sure to get me up, that’s all.”

Marius chuckled and bowed respectively, turning off the light as he closed the door. “Yes, Princess Louis.”

Louis sighed and laid down when Marius was gone, resting a hand on his stomach and curling into Niall. “Sorry, I need some kind of contact,” he said lowly, opening his eyes when Niall rolled over to face him.

“Of course you do! You poor thing,” Niall whined, gathering the Princess in his arms. Liam rolled to spoon his Omega, and all three wolves were finally at peace on the most stressful night so far.

“Tomorrow is going to be—” Louis began, unable to come up with a word that really did it justice.

“Unforgettable,” Niall supplied, because whatever the outcome, they would likely never forget it for the rest of their lives.

“That’s true,” Louis agreed, thoughts immediately turning to his Alpha and wondering what he was doing now. If he knew they were there. If he knew they were planning the most elaborate protest in their history. _I’m gonna do everything in my power, Harry. The King is going to regret this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favourite little group of Anarchists, these.


	11. Give Him Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done, thanks for sticking with me.

“Louis, lads, time for brekkie, let’s get movin’,” Marius announced as he swung their door open, getting them up with no problem because everyone knew it was necessary to.

“Fuck,” Louis said groggily, getting dressed as he threw up in the toilet and brushed his teeth right afterward.

There would never be a time when Niall wasn’t impressed with Louis’ ability to dress himself while he was puking, but of course the Mother had a bunch of practice by now. “Are you ready for this?” the blonde asked, getting uninterested looks from both his mate and the Princess. “What? Should I not be a cheerleader?”

“Just make my tea, and we’ll be even,” Louis muttered, flicking the charger out of his phone and shoving the useless hunk of metal in his pocket. Useless hunk because it had no texts from Harry in it, obviously.

“Louis, there’s no tea here,” Niall said apologetically, laughing at the Princess’ overly rageful expression.

“For the love of—”

“Everyone’s on their way, come on out,” Benjamin called to the American wolves as he passed their room, successfully getting the Princess into the main bar area and  pushing him two pills with a glass of water.

“What’s this?” Louis asked, picking one up and inspecting it.

“Vitamins,” Benjamin replied with a shrug, “I’m not entirely sure if they’s like ones you Mothers take, but I don’t fink vitamins is ever a bad thing,” he said with his poor cockney grammar.

“No, they’re never bad,” Louis agreed, tossing them into his mouth and downing the whole glass of water in one go, damning himself to a lengthy pee break in the near future. “Thank you.”

 

\---

 

The Resistance ate their pitiful cafe-bought, incredibly hard muffins and scones in a hurry, running through everything one more time and sighing in relief every time someone else walked in the doors to increase their numbers.

“I don’t fink we can waste any more time,” Marius said tightly, glancing at the clock to see it was already six-thirty in the morning.

“Then let’s not,” Louis said passionately, pointing to the van outside and punching a fist to the air. “Vive la France!” he cried, getting an automatically repeated echo from Enjoles, the only actual Frenchman here.

The motivated Omega marched to the exit and bashed the door open, accidentally hitting someone with the full force of it on his way out. “Oh fuck, I’m so sorry,” he spluttered, walking around the door to inspect the damage.

“If ye were nae the Princess, and an Omega…” Fergus muttered, slowly rising from the ground he’d been thrown against.

“Sorry Fergus,” Louis whined, getting a clap on the back from Marius as he skipped outside because he was highly amused at the situation. 

“Ready my fit wittle Scottie?” Marius patronized, patting the battle-kilted Fergus on his big round head.

“Aye,” Fergus growled, slapping Marius’ hand away and opening the back of the news surveillance-like van. “In ye go.”

Louis waited until Liam and Niall appeared beside him on the sidewalk, and with a deep breath in preparation from all three of them, they hopped in the van. The very van that would take them straight to their mates—if all went according to plan, that is. They were so painfully close to their success they could practically taste it, but it wasn’t real yet, and they couldn’t get complacent until it was secured.

The rest of Team Princess climbed in next to them, and Marius sprung the vehicle to life, pulling out and beginning the drive.

Team Princess, as they’d named themselves, was the combination of the three American wolves and the original four wolves they’d met at the cafe, plus Angel. Their team had the most A-level mission to carry out in the whole damn plan, but they had to keep it at a small number for a reason. Everyone else involved would be the much needed ground fighters, but Team Princess would be the palace infiltrators until they all _hopefully_ came together in the end—and you can’t sneak into a castle with a giant group.

The drive was as nerve-racking as anyone would guess it to be, and Louis’ stomach was doing front flips, but he couldn’t give up. Let his body fail him, all he needs are his words. Nobody knew if talking to the King would do any good whatsoever, but it was the single last option they’d have if the fighting didn’t get them anywhere, so that was the plan.

The Princess went over the little speech he’d internally prepared a thousand times, but he knew himself well. There was no doubt in his mind that if and when he got himself in front of the King, any and all the words he’d planned would be out the window, and he would forget everything he was supposed to say.

Keeping that in mind, Louis knew he would still have the main points of the inequality issues catalogued in his mind, because they were truly how he felt, and generally all he thought about. He wasn’t going to choke on the rant against injustice, the only thing that would be sacrificed was the eloquence in which he would deliver it.

“We’re here,” Marius called over his shoulder, bringing the van to a stop in a narrow alleyway and killing the engine.

“We’re what? We are?” Louis squeaked, wholly unprepared for the event he’d yearned for this entire time.

“Got ya sign?” Ben asked, pointing a knowing finger to Louis’ right side where his protest sign was perched.

“Yeah, I wasn’t gonna forget, don’t worry. I’m nervous, but I’m not a wreck,” he said defensively.

Marius shimmied his way out of the driver’s seat and slid between the car and the brick wall, swinging the back doors open and helping everyone out. Louis was last to exit, and he asked Niall if his sign was facing the right way because he didn’t care enough to study it for himself.

Fergus reached an arm in the van to grab a large and very heavy-looking black bag, and kicked the doors shut when he had it over his shoulder.

“What’s in there?” Louis asked, nudging his chin toward the bag because his hands were full of sign.

“Last resorts,” Fergus replied mysteriously, throwing the Omega a wink and walking up ahead to the end of the alley to peer down the street.

“How’s it look?” Marius asked, sitting against the wall and furiously typing on his keyboard to stay in contact with the other groups.

“Like a quiet Sunday afternoon,” Fergus replied, smiling at people as they walked by and glanced down the alley. They didn’t particularly smile back, but it was better than actually scaring them with his resting villain face. Nobody wants to be glowered at from a dark alley.

“That’s good. First group is due in fifteen. Have you got the walkie talkies?” Marius asked Enjoles as the Frenchmen was already holding his out for him.

“Thanks Angel,” he said busily, turning it on and making sure the frequency was right.

“What if we get caught by the police before we’re far enough?” Louis asked, aware that he’d already asked this question before and had it shot down. He just really needed the comfort, and luckily the Alphas understood.

“No, love,” Fergus assured, leveling with the Princess to speak into his eyes. “That there’s why we are the last team to go. We’re the closest for that purpose, aye? So their coppers can’t do a wee bit of good to you from all the way back there. We’re wingin’ this, if summat’s nae gonna work right, we do plan B and C.”

“Fer, shut it, will you?” Marius said roughly, only giving the tiniest flash of an apologetic smile before answering his ringing phone. “Yeah…looks good to us too. Alright guys, it’s up to you. You fuckin’ ready? Right, let ‘em have it,” he exclaimed, hanging up the phone and fisting the air.

“Marius?” Louis asked, dying for information.

“It’s on. Now we just gotta wait until the slowpokes get here, and we’ll storm our way fru dose gates, yeah?” he said in a thicker accent than usual, probably because he can’t help it when he’s excited.

Team Princess waited for a ten minutes until they heard the distant chant they’d chosen for the march being echoed with megaphones. The chant of “We/They have a right! You can’t own our/their lives!” was certain to attract all of the human women to join their cause, and that’s what they needed.

Louis wanted nothing more than to join the women in the “we” and “our” of the chant, but he’d pick his battles—and his battle was only two blocks away, probably brooding in a tower right about now.

“This is it, Louis,” Marius said when the group reached their alley, giving the Princess a small nudge in the right direction to get him going.

Louis yipped and hid his face behind his sign, pushing himself into the center of the group as planned, and finding his confidence once he was shrouded by people. “They have a right! You can’t own their lives!” he shouted, grinning with nerves when Niall and Liam appeared at his sides.

They walked all the way to the castle like that, blocking the street and not giving one single shit about it. By this point, Louis was skipping along the sides of the slowly growing group, holding his sign up as high as it would go and shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Excuse me?” a human woman on the sidewalk called, walking out on the street to be heard by Louis over the noise.

“Yeah?” he asked, shutting up for a second to listen.

“What’s this protest for?” she inquired, squinting her eyes at the signs behind her thick glasses, but not understanding the issue yet.

“Gender equality,” he replied honestly, laughing when she pushed her glasses up with purpose and ripped his sign out of his hands, immediately marching off with the rest of the group without him. _Well that worked,_ he thought proudly, taking a gander at their mob-sized protesters and shaking his head in disbelief.

“Oi, look what we did,” Marius said in his ear, startling the Omega because he hadn’t noticed the Resistance leader’s presence.

“Yeah, this is mad,” Louis agreed as the group turned the corner onto the bustling main street. The Princess gasped so hard he almost choked when a giant castle was straight ahead in the near distance, just past the highest gates he’d ever seen in his life. “Holy shit,” he breathed.

Niall and Liam dove out of the crowd to gush with Louis about finally finding the castle, and Team Princess bunched up so they could make their leave when things got messy. Someone had to have called the police by now because everyone’s a critic, and almost as if on cue, they made their debut.

No doubt antagonized by the aggressive members the Resistance, it only took one punch to be thrown to commence a riot. The Empire guards in their subtle red blazers came down mostly unnoticed to neutralize the Alphas, but this was what the Resistance had counted on.

Humans and wolves alike were busy fighting anyone and everyone around them, so Team Princess made their quiet and planned leave. The seven wolves and their small back-up squad handed off or dropped their signs, and took off as one down the street to reach the back of the castle. Their theory was that the extra guards still holed up inside probably wouldn’t be watching the _back_ of the castle when there was a pandemonium of a distraction happening out front, now they just had to find out if they were right.

It was an actual castle after all, so it took a bit of time to climb the incline of Earth and sneak around to the back, but the fighting in the street wasn’t calming down anytime soon, so they were fine. They chose a spot with the most shrubbery concealment and dove in, crouching down and making a pathway for Fergus.

Said Alpha inched forward and pulled out a large pair of bolt cutters from his bag to make a hole into the fence with. The fence was of an old gothic style, and the black metal bars were looking more orange these days—they had obviously seen many years. The Scotsman snapped ten bars at their tops and bottoms to make a big enough space to get through without any issues, and tossed the tool carelessly over his shoulder.

“Christ, be careful,” Angel muttered, gently pushing the Princess to follow as Fergus stepped through.   

“Just a mo,” Fergus whispered, popping his head over the hedges and surveying the grounds like a gopher, verifying they were presumably safe from other scoping eyes. “Alraight, now er ne’er,” the Scot decided, pulling Louis’ arm through to help him up.

“Give me your bag,” Louis said quietly, trying to look over the hedges as Fergus had done, but ruffling his feathers because he was much too short.

Fergus grunted and snatched the bag out of Marius’ offering hand, holding it open for Louis to take whatever he so desired. Fergus was in charge of weapons detail because nobody knew better than he did, and his bag was like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Louis closed his fingers around a suspicious wooden handle, and pulled it out in glee to discover it was just what he wanted. A baseball bat. “Fuck yes,” he exclaimed, bouncing it off his palm and smiling a little too happily.

The rest of the weapons were other common things of the sort because they weren’t about to bring knives and guns in to have a conversation. Especially because Louis was hopefully going to be living here someday, so it seemed like at least a _little_ bad luck to kill people inside his future home.

When everyone was armed with crowbars and other fill-in-the-blanks, they all bent in half and sped toward the nearest corner window. The window in question was still a distance height of two people from the ground, so Fergus crouched down in an invitation and Marius took the bait; hooking his legs over the Scot’s shoulders and gripping his hair for extra balance. Fergus walked forward and braced himself against the wall while Marius wobbled his way up to stand on his shoulders and peer into the glass.

“Anything?” Fergus grunted, gripping onto Marius’ ankles and hoping they could maintain this as successfully as they’d practiced.

Marius squinted against the sun and made a pair of binoculars with his hands to try and see the interior better. “I don’t see anyone,” he reported, looking back down at their group. “Louis, give me your bat,” he said, reaching a hand down as far as it would go without offsetting the balance.

Louis hopped over and passed it to Fergus, who carefully transferred it to Marius without a hiccup. Marius voiced a thank you and warned everyone to stand back, Fergus squeezing his eyes and turning his face down, preparing himself for potential slices of glass on his exposed skin. “Hurry up, Mar,” he gritted, feeling Marius’ weight on his shoulders increase with each passing second.

“Yup,” the Alpha quipped, rearing back and smashing the window apart, going at it in a blaze of destruction until it was all gone. “Rope,” he called as he dropped the bat in a safe location, Liam taking over for Fergus and tossing the rope high enough that Marius caught it with a quick hand. He hurled it into the room and took a deep breath, nodding to Fergus when he was ready.

Fergus let go of his ankles and presented his hands instead, and the leader Alpha carefully transferred his feet onto the palms of his Man of Mayhem. “You ready?” Fergus asked warily, already bending his knees no matter what the reply was.

“Just do it,” Marius said tightly, bending his knees too and preparing himself to dive into the window like they’d practiced elsewhere - a thousand fucking times. Fergus let out a mighty roar as he launched Marius off of his hands, sending him flying while Marius used proper diving etiquette to soar through the opening without knocking into anything. For two seconds, he was Superman.

Until he hit the floor, that is. The floor was further from the window than he’d expected—not _that_ far, but still far enough that he landed straight on his back. There goes his movie-like roll out. “Fuck,” he groaned, quickly uncoiling the rope and wrapping it around his armpits. Once he had a good hold on the first end with his hands, he threw the rest of it out the window, sitting down in the front of the wall and bracing his feet against it for leverage.

 

~~~

 

“Okay, let’s do this,” Benjamin said happily, walking up the wall like a spider and disappearing into the window. Once there, he brushed all the glass away from the sill so nobody would cut their hands, and waited for the whole squad to follow him up.

“I’ll just take this for a minute,” Fergus said, returning Louis’ bat to the bag so he could carry it up. The group watched in sympathy as Fergus’ large body pulled on the rope to scramble up the wall—can’t have been easy on poor Marius.

“See ya up there,” Troye said shyly, getting up even faster than Ben did and wholly disheartening the Omegas. There’s no way in hell they could ever accomplish that feat up to par with their friends.

Eventually Niall and Louis were the only ones left, and Louis insisted that Niall go first because that’s the kind of person that he was. Niall didn’t have time to fight it and have a “no, _you_ go first” conversation, so he pretended to have muscles and yanked himself up the wall, using more strength than he ever had in his life. Liam’s words of encouragement definitely made it noticeably easier, and before he knew it, he was through the window and in his Alpha’s arms.

“Alright, hold on tight, Lou,” Liam popped his head out to say, “We’re just pulling you up.”

“Ah, fuck. Okay,” Louis said with a shrug, holding on for dear life and working to prevent getting dragged against the wall as he was heaved up the building. Everyone on the other side was working to walk Marius backward while Liam and Angel were posted by the window to help the Princess in when it was time.

It was a bit of a challenge because they couldn’t have his stomach smushed against the window sill, but Angel dove half-way out to keep the Omega’s hips lifted, and they managed to scrape by without any…scraping.

“Fucking hell, mate, that was mad,” Marius panted, pulling out the interior layout of the castle that he’d received from Timothy before the Alpha had disappeared. There were five birds-eye view illustrations for the five respective floors, and a big red circle drawn around the King’s Quarters on the fifth story page.

“So we’re here?” Marius spoke to himself, flipping through the pages like lightning because they didn’t have all the time in the world to get this done. “We need to be…so then we…and then…okay, lads, I got it. Let’s go!” he suddenly called, shoving the papers in his jacket pocket and rushing to the door.

The time to be sneaky was long over now, so they let their loud shouting begin. Louis sprinted down the halls with the Resistance, swinging his bat like a madman and smashing every timeless looking vase he could find, screaming his lungs out for the dastardly King to come get a piece of him.

 

~~~

 

Harry and Zayn had been reasonably confused when all of the guards had suddenly scrambled of the dungeons like a damn dragon was chasing them, and it had been a silent and awkward ten minutes until they got an explanation.

“Harry! Harry, where are you?” a voice called, the sound of feet pelting down the corridor.

“Over here,” he responded with rapt attention, waving his arm through the bars to flag down the visitor. The feet got closer and closer until the owner slid them to a stop at his cell and bent over to catch his breath. “Zachariah…what’s happening?” he asked the guard he’d grown up with, Zayn walking up to be a part of the conversation.

“Harry, there’s—there’s an Omega running the castle with a baseball bat—screaming that he’s the Princess? You know anything about that?” Zachariah asked when he had enough breath.

Harry chuckled and slapped his hand over his face, shaking his head in fond exasperation and turning to Zayn. “You know…I knew it…but something kept telling me I was just imagining things,” he said to his amused watchdog.

“You have a mate?” Zachariah clarified in shock, having expected a much different answer than the vague one he got.

“I have a Louis, to be exact,” Harry replied, grinning to the ceiling as he internally praised his Omega for his daring courage. _You lunatic._

“Is he really the Princess? We have a _Princess_?” Zachariah squeaked, holding his mouth open so wide that Harry could probably jump inside of it.

“Usually what that means, yes.”

“He’s with a group of Resistance wolves, making quite the mess of the place trying to find the King’s Quarters. Not to mention the riots they started in the streets,” Zachariah informed.

“Well, well, well—my baby’s been busy,” Harry mused in appreciation, sharing a proud look with his watchdog, who could only assume that Niall and Liam were currently with the Princess, adding to the chaos.

“What do I do?” Zachariah asked desperately, at a total loss for what actions should be taken.

“What do you do? You tell everyone you fucking see that Louis is pregnant with my puppy, and to not fucking tackle him,” Harry growled, seething with sudden anxiety that could probably blow this whole cell apart if he needed it to.

“We have an _heir_?” Zachariah shrieked, not sure how many more surprises he could handle for one day.

“ _Now_ , please?” Harry pressed, shooing the guard off to do what the Prince asked of him.

“I’ve been ordered to stop him,” Zachariah decided to mention, cringing under the cold glare the Prince skewered him with.

“Hah,” he laughed emotionlessly, “Be my guest. You just run along now and _try_ to stop him. I’ll fucking pray for you.”

“No, I’m on your side, Harry,” Zachariah said passionately.

“Then go be helpful,” the Prince roared, sighing when the guard tumbled out of sight and flew back up the stairs. “... _after_ you give me the bloody keys, you brainless slug,” he muttered into the air when the skittish guard had already left.

“They’re here,” Zayn sung in joy, jumping up and down despite his efforts to keep his cool.

Harry laughed and stalked forward, grabbing his watchdog by the face and kissing him senseless, even picking him up and spinning him around as they giggled like school girls. “All this planning and contemplating, and they just break in themselves. Our reckless psychopaths have bested us once again.”

 

~~~

 

“You guys go, get to the fifth floor. I can handle these bastards,” Fergus said darkly, smirking at the nervous guards and letting the remaining group of five progress up the stairs.

That had been the way things had been working out during their ascension; when they ran into a group of guards, one brave wolf would always willingly get left behind to give Louis all the chances he needed to reach his destination. Now the American royal mates were left with Marius and Enjoles as they’d planned, and they only had one more flight of stairs before they were in the green zone.

“Thanks, Fergus,” Louis shouted respectfully, whipping up the stairs like he’d been shot out of a slingshot and mentally apologizing to his puppy for the particularly bumpy ride he’d had so far.

The map guide Marius flung the fourth floor paper out of his hand and stuck his face in the last one, shouting ‘that way’ and ‘this way’ at every turn, and helpfully leading the group to the very last step in the whole plan.

From behind them, they heard the telltale shout of ‘Stop right there!’ by a group of guards, and this time it was Angel’s turn to be the sacrifice. “Guys, keep going,” he wheezed, sliding to a stop and turning to face the opponents with fire in his eyes.

“Shit, no—this way,” Marius yelled when he’d accidentally made the the wrong turn down the hall for a moment. The group did a full 180° turn and sprinted the other way, quickly losing all of the oxygen from their lungs, but not letting it slow them down. “There!” he cried, pointing to an upcoming right turn and losing grip of the map when the nastiest looking guards yet materialized from around the corner. “Shit! Louis, run for it, it’s right there!” he shouted, smashing into the guards with Liam and Niall and making a body wall for Louis to slip by untouched.

The three wolves fought the guards back down the hall as far as they could, even Niall getting a few good punches in here and there, and they had officially done everything for the Princess that they could.

Louis took a deep breath and turned to stare down his destination, in awe of the beauty of the final doors that held the thing he feared and hated the most in this world. He pushed his sleeves up and marched straight up to the doors, raising his bat and cracking it down on the primitive locking system, successfully getting it to fall apart under the harsh blow.

If he had the time, he would have pumped a fist in the air at _least_ once, but as it were, he didn’t. Instead, he victoriously kicked the doors open like they were the King’s spine, and that seemed to do the trick. The Princess rushed into a large, high-ceilinged room with a long red carpet that led to a stereotypical throne, with a stereotypical bearded man upon it, wearing a stereotypical crown, and holding a stereotypical staff.

The King was staring at him with an unimpressed eyebrow raised in condescending interest, but if there was anyone more unimpressed at the situation, it was Louis. “Any last words, Your Highness?” he snarled, resting the bat over his shoulder and strutting forward until he was stood in front of the desk that desperate wolves assumedly came to voice their groveling troubles to their King and hope for the best.

The King chuckled lowly and leaned his staff against his throne, resting his elbows on his knees and squinting his eyes at the Omega, regarding him with…something Louis couldn’t decipher. He lifted a walkie-talkie and ordered a quick, “Cease fighting,” into the device, before putting it down and speaking directly to Louis.

“I must congratulate you on making it all the way here—it can’t have been easy,” he noted, his booming voice echoing off the walls and raising the hairs on Louis’ arms. It almost resembled Harry’s when it curved over the emphasis in the sentence, and the tone was in the same deep registry as the Prince’s, but Louis moved on from that pretty quickly.

“I’m glad I let you,” the King added, enraging the Omega even more so than he already was.

“ _Let me_?” Louis repeated with a shaky voice, so angry that his vision was blurring.

“If I didn’t want you to have made it to this room, you wouldn’t have. I told my guards that if an Omega managed to fight his way all the way to me against all odds, then he at least deserved a moment of my time and attention,” he said, sitting back in his seat and waiting for the upset beauty to make his undoubtedly lengthy case.

“Give him back!” Louis barked at the calm ruler.

“Who, Harry?” the King responded with a chuckle.

“Give my bondmate back to me. _Now_. Lock me in the same cell for the rest of our fucking lives, I don’t care—just let me see him, I can’t live without him,” he begged, voice cracking from his raw emotions pouring out of him like a dam had been broken.

“So it is true,” the King mused thoughtfully, humming in consideration. “My son bonded an American Omega. Very interesting…”

“Interesting?” Louis repeated defensively. “ _Interesting_? It’s _interesting_ that your left lung is smaller than the right is to make room for your heart. It’s _interesting_ that eighty-five percent of all plant-life is found in the ocean. It’s _interesting_ that a duck physically cannot walk without bobbing its stupid little head, but _this_? _This_ is a fucking catastrophe. This is a cataclysmic disaster that you’ve created that’s harming not only mine and Harry’s lives together, but the lives of millions for no fucking reason,” he screeched, only stopping to breath once he was finished.

“This species needs law and order. You don’t understand the first thing about leading a whole planet. You think everything is so simple, but it’s not. What the fuck would you know?” he retorted without missing a beat, clearly acting out of a nerve that Louis had managed to hit.

“What do I know?” Louis fired back, slamming his hands down on the desk to be more intimidating, when they both knew he wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight. “I know that discriminating against a whole gender and robbing them of their basic freedoms isn’t the best way to win over your people’s hearts. I know that’s actually the worst fucking way possible. You can hate Omegas all you want, but Alphas are furious too, you know. Everyone hates this, you really fucked up—”

“When did I say I hated Omegas?” the King interrupted in exasperation because he’d had this exact conversation so many times now. “This decision is what’s best for you lot. You’re weak, and this is protect you. I’m not bloody discriminating against you, I’m setting you free. I’m giving you the ability to awaken your true selves and be who you were meant to be,” he declared, clearly neck-deep in a superiority complex in Louis’ eyes.

“Yeah, maybe like a couple hundred _years ago_ ,” the Princess argued desperately, begging the King to open his eyes and see this thing called ‘reason.' “If you haven’t noticed, Your Idiotic Excellency, we’re not in the bloody stone ages anymore. We can’t function in human societies using the olde ways of life, we can’t do—”

“Why do you _want_ the human world so badly?” the King demanded, for this part never made any sense to him from his constant complainers. “It will do nothing for you. They are creatures who would never accept you if they knew what you really were.”

“If they knew,” Louis muttered with a snort, “Yeah, well, now you can just sit back and watch that happen. Because now we can’t even try to hide it anymore. Exposure is fucking inevitable at this point, and thanks to you, we’ll find out just how the humans will react to our species.”

“So be it!” the King snapped, fighting the urge to fly down to the table and slap the Omega across his face. The only thing stopping him was his son’s wrath in response. If that Prince ever found out, no prison would likely ever hold him. “The smart ones will quit their useless human jobs and—”

“How can you be so insensitive?” Louis roared incredulously, one more ignorant statement away from ripping his own hair out. “Not to mention ignorant,” he added to follow his train of thought. “Without human money, unmated Omegas will lose their homes, their livelihood, everything! They’ll be on the streets!”

“Well, that’s where the second phase of the decree comes in,” the King reasoned, thinking that he’s going to be able to break the news and educate the Omega on what he didn’t know.

“Oh—yeah, no _thanks_ , _Hitler_ , I’ve already heard all about that,” Louis said boredly, daring the King to state his reasons for its benefits so he could make more use of his bat.

“You _dare_ compare me to that corrupt and genocidal Alpha?” the King snarled incredulously, even standing from his seat in offended anger. “I’m trying to help you—”

“No, you’re trying to control us!” Louis interrupted, unwilling to sit through another lecture. He knew where it was going, and the King was just plain wrong, and the man needed to understand this. “You’re trying to control us in ways that are actually harmful as fuck, and you would fucking know that if you paid like a _speck_ of attention. Throwing us all in camps and forcing us to mate with anyone who wants us? It’s disgusting,” he spat hatefully, putting the lid down on his growing nausea.

“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way,” the King said tonelessly, rubbing his forehead and sitting back down in his throne.

“No. No, you’re not,” Louis said in a quieter manner, walking around the table to be closer to the tired man. “You’re not sorry about a damn thing, because if you were, you never would have let things get to this point. You let your grief consume you and turn you into a monster that punishes others for your personal pain. A monster who would rip your Prince and _son_ from his mate and throw him in a dungeon just for having a differing opinion than you. But news flash!” he said, waiting until he got the King’s eyes on him before continuing:

“You’re the wrong one, Your Highness. Harry is the one with the right idea, and that scared you, so you locked him up. You know deep in your soul that what you’re doing is fucked up, you just don’t want anyone dragging you off your high horse, but I’m going to be that person if it kills me,” he growled confidently, confusing the King for the countless time in this conversation.

“Feel that strongly, do you?” he asked patronizingly, entertained by the Omega’s uncharacteristic passion.

“You bet your saggy _ass_ I do,” he shot back, looking to his stomach and gently setting his palm over it with a sad expression. “Because looking at how you are right now, and the kind of person you’ve become, I am ashamed that my poor son has to share your sexist blood in his innocent veins.”

The King doesn’t usually get caught off guard so extremely, but he’ll admit the news almost stopped his heart. “You’re with child?” he gasped, lowering his gaze to stare in shock at the Omega’s tummy.

“Yes. Your son’s child. Congratulations, Grandpa. You’re so disconnected from and out of touch with the bodies of Omegas that you couldn’t even smell my pregnancy,” he chuckled, letting it really sink in before he went in for the kill. “I’d like to thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?” he responded skeptically, knowing that the Omega’s fiery resolve was still right under the surface.

“Yup. Thank you for making it inescapable that my puppy is to be raised without his Father. Also that he will be brought up in a world where he will think it’s normal that his gender counterparts are treated like objects that can be owned. And more than anything, thanks for ripping his Father out of my arms in the middle of the night mere _hours_ after we confirmed the breeding, leaving me to suffer alone through the diciest time in my pregnancy. Needless to say, the worst morning sickness in history. Thanks for forcing me to stuff myself in an airplane and fly to a foreign country and physically fight my way through a fucking _castle_ when I _should_ have been with my beloved mate, doing normal early nesting things, you cruel, brainless, sexist, washed up, cowardly old man! This Princess has no King before him—all he sees is a weak, disgusting, _pathetic—_ ”

“I get it…” the King said quietly to the ground, having been unable to meet the Omega’s eyes throughout the entire speech.

“Do you?” Louis asked dubiously, crossing his arms and giving the ruler his signature snark. “I could keep going. I’m the fucking Mother of an heir, you fucked with the wrong family. You’ve never met someone like me,” he growled, stopping when the King put a hand up to silence him.

“I have, actually,” the King said with a fond chuckle and far-off look in his eyes. “You remind me so much of my cherished Anna. Your words of passion kindle the same fire that hers did. You have that same look on your face that she did whenever I got out of line.”

Louis definitely wasn’t expecting such a raw and emotional confession to come from the cold-hearted King, but hearing it made him want to break down into tears. “Would she have been able to change your mind?” he asked softly, attempting a small smile for encouragement.

The King threw his head back and laughed to the ceiling, leaning back down and wiping at the corner of his eye. “She could have made me switch the direction that our Earth rotates in if she asked it of me,” he said truthfully, finally meeting Louis’ eyes and actually _seeing_ him. “Of course she could have changed my mind.”

Louis followed his instincts and stepped forward until he King was in arms distance, grabbing onto one of the ruler’s ringed hands with both of his and kneeling before him, begging the Monarch to come to his senses. “Can I?” he asked desperately, transferring his very heart through his two hands and letting the King hold it instead.

“You could if I let you,” the King said with a smirk, giving a full lop-sided smile when the Omega’s eyes welled with tears.

“Then let me,” he whined, reaching his inevitable breaking point of calm. Louis dropped his head down and silently cried to the floor while he waited for an answer, holding his breath when the King’s free hand appeared to lift his chin up and force his son’s mate to look up at him.

“What’s your name, Princess?” he asked sweetly, setting Louis on edge because he still wasn’t sure where the ruler stood.

“Louis Styles,” he answered simply.

The King let out a loud cackle that was eerily similar to Harry’s over hearing his own last name—a name that now rightfully belonged to an Omega who was previously a complete stranger when he walked in the door. It proved to Desmond that he was in fact hurting his own family without even knowing it, and the more aware he became of how disappointed and furious Anna would be, the more he regretted every day since her death. “Princess Louis,” he repeated thoughtfully, taking a quick liking to the sound of it.

He moved his hand from under Louis’ chin to smooth it down the side of his face, caressing his cheek with his thumb while he stared into the eyes that were so very much like his Anna’s. He pulled his hand away when he remembered that his son could kill him over this, and stood from his throne, pulling the Omega up with him. “Come with me,” he said, holding one of the Princess’ hands in his and slapping the other on top.

He led them through a decently well hidden door, and walked them down an old torch-lit stone corridor. These were the secret passageways that Louis had only ever seen in his dreams, and if he weren’t being led by a royal King, this would be about the time that he would start belting out _Phantom of The Opera_ songs.

They descended down old and untrustworthy stairs until they reached the damp and moldy bottom, spending another two or three minutes traveling along a flow of water. Eventually they came to a large wooden door and the King cleared his throat; the sound reverberating back and forth with the underground acoustics and elongating the cough by about five seconds.

“Your Raoul is in there,” he informed, cocking his head toward the door.

“My—how did you _know_?” Louis asked in shock, now convinced the man was a reader of minds.

“I would have been confused if you _hadn’t_ made that comparison,” the King said with a shrug.

“So…he’s really in there?” Louis clarified, pointing to the door with a shaky finger.

The King fished around the inside of his expensive royal cape and pulled out a pair of jangly and terribly rusted keys, dropping them into the hands of the Omega who had undeniably earned them.

Louis studied them in his still trembling hand, and that breaking point he was talking about is now. He gripped the keys so they wouldn’t be dropped and flung his arms around the King, crying into his shoulder in gratitude. “Thank you,” he said into his ear.

The King had been motionless at first because it had been a long time since anyone had hugged him, but he eventually found his arms snaking around the Omega’s back to reciprocate the gesture. “Thank _you_ ,” he corrected, almost missing the Omega’s warmth when he pulled away.

“Me? For what?” Louis questioned, so far only having caused a bunch of mayhem since his arrival in England, good cause or not.

“For bringing my Anna’s will of fire into this castle again. For letting me see her again, even if in the soul of another,” he said, fighting the urge to touch the beauty’s face again—Harry _seriously_ wouldn’t hesitate to end him.

Louis smiled and placed a comforting hand on the King’s shoulder, really locking in his focus. “There will _always_ be parts of her surrounding you. You just have to look. One of them is sulking in a cell right now…and one is here,” he said as he took the King’s hand and pressed it against his stomach.

Desmond’s tears finally came and he covered his mouth with his free wrist, gazing unblinkingly at the Princess’ stomach and in awe of the tiniest of bumps he could detect. To think that if he were any further gone, he would have turned away a legacy of his Anna…it made him sick. “Go to him, Louis. He’s waiting for you. I have a lot of mistakes to fix, and I doubt he wants to see me quite yet. This family could not have a better addition than you, and you couldn’t have come at a better or more crucial time. Thank you for everything you’ve done, I’ll see you very soon.”

Louis was about to respond, but the King turned away without another word and floated along back the way they came, instantly killing the conversation. It was okay, though—apparently Louis had ample time to have all the future discussions with the King he wanted.

For now, he had something to do that meant more to him than anything, and he ripped the sticky door open, flying through the rows of cells and screaming down the giant tunnel of the dungeon. “ _Harry_!”

Harry and Zayn both lurched from the unmistakable sound of Louis’ voice, but it was Harry who slammed his head into the bars of the cell trying to run out. “ _Shit_ ,” he cursed, rubbing at his forehead, “Here! I’m here, Louis!” he called, sticking his arms out and waving them like he was trying to fly.

Louis caught sight of his mate’s ringed hands and sprinted with purpose, holding the ring of old keys in front of his face and trying to figure out which one to use before he got there. They all looked the damn same, but one of them had to work. He finally reached his mate and took ahold of his hands while he skidded to a stop.

“Louis! Oh my god, Louis!” Harry cried, pulling the Omega in close and hugging him as effectively as he could behind bars.

“Harry!” Louis whined, standing on his tiptoes to connect their lips like he’d dreamed about since the Alpha was taken from him. It was everything he’d imagined and more.

“You have the keys?” Harry asked, pulling back reluctantly because he knew he could improve the hug without the blasted door in the way.

“I don’t know which one it is,” Louis admitted, shaking with excitement over being in Harry’s presence again, but still needing to focus for the final steps.

“Let me see them,” the Alpha said, taking them from Louis’ confused hands and giving them a once-over. “This one,” he said confidently, giving the correct one back.

Louis nodded and gave it a try as Harry was jumping up and down impatiently like a dog after its owner gets home from a long day away. The key made both of their dreams come true when it made that successful clicking sound in the lock, and Louis ripped the door open and flew into Harry’s awaiting arms.

“Oh my god,” Harry whined, frantically running his hands all over his mate’s body and sinking his teeth into the Omega’s bond mark to bring their spark back.

Louis was a sobbing mess and slowly losing his ability to stand under all his relief. The gravity of his journey and what he’d had to do to get here was weighing him down, and Harry’s bite was like putting one more book on a huge stack that ultimately made the whole thing come crashing down.

Louis sagged in Harry’s arms so the Alpha walked them backward until they were on the bed and ordered Zayn to take the keys and go free all of their friends who’d been imprisoned. “How did you get here?” Harry asked reverently, laying the Omega down and covering him with his body.

“I flew—in a plane,” Louis wailed, strangling Harry with how hard he was hugging him around the neck, but Harry welcomed it with acceptance.

“But down here?” Harry specified, gesturing around to the cell.

“The King,” Louis sniffed, licking at Harry’s neck and setting the Alpha on fire.

“The _King_?” Harry breathed incredulously, pulling back just enough to connect their eyes. He found he couldn’t stay away for longer than a second, so he nuzzled Louis’ neck instead, placing kisses on every inch of skin he had easy access to.

“I changed his mind,” Louis said simply, still in complete shock that he’d actually gotten through. It hadn’t quite sunk in yet.

Harry wheezed out a laugh and shook his head, rolling his hips against his mate’s because he could. “You’re incredible,” he praised, swallowing Louis’ moans with his lips.

“Guys?” Zayn called with a group of Alphas behind him, knocking on the bars and making them rattle noisily. Both wolves looked at him like he was asking the impossible, but they needed to save this for later. “Guys, I don’t think _here_ is the best place to rekindle your flame?” he asked reasonably, beckoning them to get out of the cell already.

“Right,” Harry said guiltily, lifting Louis into his arms and following Zayn out of the dungeons. They took a different door than the one Louis had come in from, but they still climbed steps of a similar passageway to pop out on the first floor.

 

\---

 

“Zayn!” Niall screeched when he caught sight of his other mate, galloping toward the bookcase that had mysteriously started opening. Liam almost tripped because his mind moved his feet faster than they could actually go, but he smashed himself into their embrace when he got a handle on it.

There were a lot of people in the main hall, guards and citizens alike, but there was no face without a smile. Even Justin was guiltily smiling at Harry in a way that the Prince hadn’t really expected to see, and he came up to give his apologies.

“Harry…I’m sorry I got such a kick out of tormenting you. You don’t have to forgive me, I probably wouldn’t. I’m Captain of the guard now, ‘cuz Dax resigned about an hour ago, and let me tell you, we’re _all_ happy that he’s gone. We were only doing our job as the King decreed, but well, the King himself decided to...de-decree it. Apparently something changed his mind, and I’m willing to bet it was you,” he said, giving a grateful smile to the Princess.

“I may have had something to do with it,” Louis said haughtily, grinning so hard it hurt when he caught Harry’s look of adoration and fascination.

“You’re gonna tell me every single little thing later,” Harry murmured into his mate’s ear, giving him a slap on the arse before returning his attention to Justin. “What happened here?” he asked, gesturing around to the audience of wolves.

“Well, Timothy’s online Resistance group I guess were plotting to infiltrate, and then the Princess showed up, and they got the ball rolling. I’m not sure, they came in through the back library, and we were all ordered to stop them, but they deserve some serious credit. Especially the Scot. And then eventually, the King told us to stop fighting. So we kind of just corralled everyone here in the Great Hall, and yeah—that’s what you see,” he informed, shrugging because that really was all he knew.

“Timothy’s online group?” Harry repeated, shaking his head fondly. He wasn’t surprised at all.

“That’s right,” said a voice behind him, making Harry jump as he turned around.

“Timothy!” he breathed, crushing him in a one-armed hug because nothing on the planet could make him move the other one from around Louis’ waist.

“Hiya, Harry. Oi, Marius! Bring the boys,” Timothy shouted, Team Princess turning around and eagerly running over.

“Louis, my god, you’re alright!” Angel weeped, throwing his arms around the Omega but instantly backing away when Harry let out a growl. “Sorry, Prince Harry. Lovely to see you again, you look great. You have the best Princess and best Omega in the entire world, and I need you to know that. He changed the world today!” he declared, wiping at his eyes.

“I know I do,” Harry agreed with a winning smile, crashing his lips onto his mate’s and desperately wanting these aftermath formalities to be over so he could take his lover to bed.

“Alright, Lou? Harry?” Marius asked cordially, receiving two ecstatic nods in return.

“I’m sorry, I kind of forgot everyone’s names,” Harry admitted, setting aside his yearning to knot Louis so he could properly thank everyone’s efforts.

“No problem whatsoever, Prince H. I’m Marius, this is Angel, that’s Fergus, Benjamin, and Troye. I’ll be proud as fuck to announce that with Zayn, Liam, and Niall’s help, Team Princess were the brilliant masterminds behind this whole operation, since _your_ daft arse got sent to jail,” Marius teasingly growled at Timothy as he ruffled his hair.

Timothy cackled and attacked Marius’ sides with tickles, commencing a sparring duel in the middle of the room and henceforth taking them out of the conversation.

“Well, I’d like to say thank you,” Harry said passionately to the rest of the team, gripping onto Angel’s forearm. “I don’t know all the details, but I know Louis is going to tell me tonight. After that, I’ll probably be kneeling at your feet,” he said to the blushing Enjoles.

“Ees nossing, Prince. Louis was très magnifique! We love him,” he said emotionally like he was a parent seeing a child off for their first day of school. “I miss you every day! You must come back to le bar, oui?” he pleaded, shaking Louis’ forearms.

“Yeah, Angel, I’ll come back. I promise,” Louis assured, laughing when Fergus came and lifted Angel off the floor to take him away.

“Sorry ‘bout him. Off you pop, ye nutters,” he said, stomping away with the indignant Frenchman over his shoulder.

“Goodbye Fergus,” Louis called, getting a small wave thrown over Fergus’ back.

Harry looked around and found the watchdog trio, and he guided Louis over to them for a quick chat. “Do you wanna get out of here as much as I do?” he asked his protector, only to be met with instantaneous hugs from both Liam and Niall.

“We missed you too, Harry,” Niall cried, startling the Prince too much for him to conjure a quick response.

“It’s true. We missed both of you. Well, Zayn more, but you’re important!” Liam stuttered, way out of his element among the royal Alphas in their natural habitat.

“To my side, mates,” Zayn ordered, effectively getting his wolves to disconnect from Harry and attach themselves to him instead. “Yeah, not that I wouldn’t want to stay in the…celebration…if that’s what this is. It’s just that I’d rather be in Niall.”

“I second that,” Liam said eagerly.

“Justin, would you take care of all this, please? I don’t know what the bloody fuck the King is doing, but I’m going to my room to mate and nothing can stop me,” Harry said simply, not waiting for a reply before whisking Louis back into his arms and climbing the stairs to the fourth floor.

The watchdog followed for most of the journey before breaking off to his own quarters. It was admittedly right next to Harry’s—it only looked so far away because they were ginormous rooms. Short and forced goodbyes were thrown to each other before both groups tripped through their doorways and slammed themselves in.

“Louis,” Harry moaned, breathing in the Omega’s scent like a drug and shoving his hands down the back of his pants to grope his deliciously thick ass. “I’ve been lost without you, my love.”

“H-Harry,” Louis stuttered, throwing his arms around the Alpha’s neck and knocking his head back to expose his mark when Harry’s teeth attacked it.

Harry held one hand to support the back of Louis’ head, and took his sweet time re-strengthening their bond. Both wolves were painfully hard, so without taking his teeth out, Harry urged Louis’ pants down until the Omega got the point and finished it himself. Undressing was getting impractical with embedded teeth in the mix, so Harry reluctantly let go, ripping their clothes off like a civilized wolf and carrying the Omega the rest of the way to his bed.

“You’re so beautiful,” the Alpha breathed in awe, trailing the softest touch of his fingers down the middle of the Omega’s chest.

“Just knot me, Harry,” Louis begged, dripping with slick and shuddering to be filled.

“Of course, my Princess,” the Alpha whispered, encouraging his pining Omega to wrap his legs behind his back so he could get the easiest access. Just one touch to his mate’s wet hole sent him spiraling into a haze of desperation, and he moaned around one of Louis’ nipples as he slowly buried his fingers inside.

Louis wailed as his hole opened up for his Alpha, but he didn’t need all this careful preparation. “Harry, it’s not that I don’t apprec—”

“Quiet, my love,” Harry hushed, drawing his fingers out and sticking them in his mouth to get a taste of his Omega’s want. “I missed this. The taste of you. I missed everything,” he whined, reaching down and making circles around Louis’ entrance with his cock to slick it up before he’d put it in.

When Harry finally granted Louis with what he needed most, the Omega let out a cross between a screech and a sigh, and his legs fell open onto the bed because he didn’t have the muscles to keep them twisted around his mate anymore. “Fuck me, Alpha,” he gasped, taking over Harry’s lips with his own and stealing the Prince’s breath that he’d been unfairly deprived from all this time.

Harry was careful of Louis’ stomach when he roughened the mating up a bit, but he still thrusted hard and dove deep into the Omega’s body with his ravenous cock. Having Louis back in his arms was better than he’d even imagined, and his knot was growing embarrassingly quickly.

Louis cried out when he felt the start of his Alpha’s knot, and the timing was actually perfect, because the Omega was beyond exhausted and was desperately looking forward to falling asleep in his arms again. Even one day apart had been too much, throw in the real amount of time passed, and you can understand why he deserves a good long nap with his Alpha.

“I’m gonna knot,” Harry warned, getting level with his mate and slowing the pace of his hips so he could relax into his release.

“Please! Please fill me up, Harry. I need you, I need it,” Louis whined, throwing other nonsensical babbles in there until he was rendered speechless by the full knot that locked them together. As if that didn’t feel phenomenal enough, Harry leaned in to the Omega’s neck and re-marked him yet again, throwing his bond hormones into overdrive and consequently sending Louis’ orgasm over the edge.

Louis emitted the sexiest groan as he came, and Harry rushed to scoop his palm under the flow so he could have it all to himself. He sought out Louis’ lips and gave a short but gentle kiss before sitting up and bring his hand to his mouth to swallow his mate’s release.

“How do I taste?” Louis panted with his eyes closed and a lazy smile on his reddened face.

“Like you’re pregnant,” Harry murmured in appreciation, backing up and taking Louis’ hips with him. He moved to sit on his feet and made sure to not pull on their connection, tilting Louis’ bottom half in a diagonal angle and reverently smoothing his palms over the Omega’s stomach.

Louis opened his eyes as he was pulled down the bed and up onto Harry’s thighs, and he giggled when Harry’s hands touched his tummy. “That tickles,” he squeaked, sighing in relief when the Alpha firmly held his sides instead.

“Sorry, love. I just can’t believe you’re truly pregnant. When I was taken, for a long time it felt like a far-off dream, or that it didn’t really happen. Having you right in front of me, and our puppy right in here…I just…I love you so much, Louis,” he said with a voice crack or two.

“Harry, I love you too. And about me being pregnant, you can believe it. I’ll let my incessant morning sickness speak for itself,” he muttered, dreading the morning but knowing that with Harry here, there’s nothing he can’t do.

“I am so sorry that I wasn’t there for you in the beginning,” Harry said sadly, leaning forward and holding himself above his mate. “I got so fucking upset whenever I thought about how lonely you must have been. How much your body was probably making you suffer without the antidote of my hormones to calm it.”

“Harry, it’s not like you were being negligent!” Louis said passionately, forcefully putting a stop to his Alpha’s path of guilt. “You didn’t have a say in anything that happened, and I’m just glad we’re together again. That’s all in the past, I have you now, and nothing can ever take you away again—if anyone tries, it’ll be the last damn thing they ever do.”

“You’ve gotten stronger in the mind,” Harry noted, returning his hand to Louis’ stomach because he couldn’t help himself.

“I guess it’s because I’m a Mother now,” Louis guessed, adorably squeezing one eye closed as he yawned and stealing Harry’s heart all over again.

“You’re so cute. Perfect. Sensational. Just everything, god damnit,” Harry praised, hopping off his train of thought when he knew he would only be throwing more adjectives at the Omega because he couldn’t form intricate sentences at the moment.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Louis teased, mapping his Alpha’s face under his fingertips and knowingly waggling his eyebrows when Harry’s knot went down.

“ _So_ pregnant,” Harry chuckled, pulling out slowly and crashing down onto his side, propping himself up on an elbow and holding Louis’ face in his hand. Face touching was big with these two.

Louis looked over when his head was just barely moved, knowing that Harry wouldn’t say anything, but the Alpha was vying for eye contact. Louis had no immediate words on his tongue, but his eyes shined as they stared into Harry’s; grinning in pure happiness when tears filled them.

“I know,” Harry responded, giving up the fight with himself and sobbing out in joy as he wrapped the Omega up in his arms where he was safest. “It was hell.”

“I’m here now,” Louis said, sniffling into Harry’s hair and twisting locks around in his fist.

“You are, aren’t you?” Harry agreed, taking deep inhales of his mate’s scent and locking them in his sinuses, as if that were possible. He pulled back to lay down and moved forward until his nose was touching Louis’ cheek. “Are you tired, baby?” he asked in reference to the bags under Louis’ eyes and the heaviness in his breathing.

“Yeah, I’m so fucking exhausted. I’m just lucky that I can actually sleep now,” he said, sighing blissfully in his mate’s arms and cuddling even closer to the warmth of the Alpha’s bare skin. “You’ll be here when I wake up, right? I’d hate to find out this was all a dream.”

Harry smiled against the Omega’s face and gave him the smallest of pecks with his lips, impressively getting his duvet to cover them using only his legs to hike it up. “If this is a dream, we’d better be in a terminal coma,” he croaked, already losing his voice to impending sleep.

“No, it’s real. You know how I know?” Louis asked, grinning to himself while Harry pondered it.

“How?” he asked curiously, leaning up on his elbows with furrowed eyebrows when Louis disconnected their limbs and scooted off the bed toward the bathroom.

“‘Cuz I have to throw up,” he announced somehow happily, a cackling Harry jumping out of bed to go help him through it.

As far as Harry’s concerned, that’s probably the only time anyone has been ecstatic about the act of puking, but his Princess and himself had always been hit with odd and rare circumstances in their dramatic relationship. This was no different. _This Omega…thank you,_ he thought to anyone listening, believing wholeheartedly that something placed Louis directly in his path and connected their fates. Harry’s not that lucky—but life had given him Louis. And there was only one thing to say to that fact. _Thank you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not anti-climactic, I promise. The King wasn't some completely evil demon, he was just really off track and blinded by his hurt. But it only took some fiery words from an Omega that reminded him of Anna to wake him out of it and really realize what he was doing. Go Louis!


	12. We Save The King And Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I did a bunch of fishing around for actual coronation proceeding things. Like I took most of it verbatim aside from the wolfy things, so sorry that not all of it makes grammatical sense, but yeah. I made it less religious and changed the 'god save the' blahblah to 'we', because that's how they work. But in any case, it's how coronations actually go. In conclusion, here's the last chapter, I hope you like it.

“You _WHAT_!” Harry screeched, surely having heard that statement completely wrong.

“I’m stepping down,” the King repeated, looking back and forth between the Prince and Princess. He’d called them in to speak to him as soon as they were awake and moving around in the morning, but he figured they’d already known what it was about. Apparently they didn’t.

Harry caught Louis when the Omega began swaying where he stood, and held him up with a strong arm while he processed what this meant. “You want me to rule?” he asked to clarify, gazing unblinkingly at the King in his throne.

“You happen to be the heir, son,” the King needlessly reminded, “Look, your coronation is going to be in a week, so Princess, I suggest calling your family and getting them here as soon as possible. I set all of this up last night because I’m unfit to rule, and I get that. I’ve done too many bad things, and I fixed all the terrible mistakes, but there’s a lot more to do that I don’t have the heart for. Just...take care of her for me,” he pleaded, standing to cross the room and reach the table the royal couple were shaking behind.

“Her?” Harry asked, needing an explanation on that one.

“The world,” Desmond explained, hiding his smile at Harry’s fish-like mouth gape. He began to pass the pair but slapped a hand on Harry’s shoulder to get his vigilant attention. “Look sharp, Harry. Kings don’t widen their eyes. We squint our eyes in silent judgement,” he chuckled, taking his leave through another less known door on the side of the room.

The words somehow helped Harry’s confidence, and he straightened his spine as he relaxed his face; taking deep breaths and leading Louis around the table to approach the throne.

“Shit, you’re really doing this, aren’t you?” Louis said shakily, chattering his teeth like they were outside in a snowstorm.

“ _We_ are,” Harry corrected, daringly taking a seat in the throne and losing himself in the weight of his imminent title. He let out a deep breath and smoothed his hands up and down the armrests, getting a feel for how he would soon be living.

“We?” Louis asked unsurely when Harry didn’t respond, accepting the hand that reached out for his to pull him closer.

“You’re going to be my Queen, Louis,” Harry informed, getting the hunch that the Princess hadn’t thought that far yet.

“I…” Louis began, his heart rate spiking and sending Harry’s into overdrive alongside it. “Can Queens have wide eyes?” he asked nervously, his whole face going pale.

“Come here, love. Sit down,” Harry said with concern, gently maneuvering his Omega on his lap and rubbing at his stomach. His poor baby was completely speechless, but the Prince understood—if Harry hadn’t grown up in the castle being the heir his whole life, he probably would be too. “We’re going to be great,” he whispered into the Omega’s neck, trying his luck for a kiss.

Louis heard the kissy request sounds, and he turned his head to connect their lips blankly, mind still reeling a thousand miles per hour. He was about to rule the world with his Alpha in a week, give him some time. “I don’t know what I need to do,” he admitted, relaxing into Harry’s chest when the Alpha pulled him into it.

“Just show up,” Harry said plainly, laughing when the Omega scoffed at the overly simplistic answer. “Look, I’ve got the same kind of questions, but we’re going to have advisors around us, and I was born for this. As nervous as I feel, this was always my duty in life, I just never thought I would have a Queen like you by my side. I can only have good feelings about this, and I hope you do too.”

“How did life bring us together?” the Omega asked, still unsure how the fates managed to stick them in the same place at the same time.

“I refuse to believe in coincidence. This was too big,” Harry responded with a shrug, leaving it open to interpretation. “Come, my love. I shall ease your trembling skin in a royal bath, and then afterward, we’ll contact your family. Sound good?” he asked, already standing with the shell shocked Omega in his arms.

“My family…” Louis repeated, his face brightening with amusement when he imagined their reactions, especially Daryl’s. “Yeah, that’ll be fun,” he sniggered, crossing his right leg over his left and falling back in his Alpha’s arms, giving him his full dead weight. “To the washing chambers, my Lord,” he ordered snootily.

“Right away, my Queen.”

 

\---

 

A week quickly passed, and today was the day. The royal couple had woken up exceptionally early to go off in separate directions and get meticulously prepped by employees of the castle. They’d stayed in contact through texting each other, but even Louis didn’t want to break tradition and go see him.

For some reason, it felt like today was their wedding, even though wolves did no such things. Getting globally recognized as the King’s mate and crowned beside him where he belonged was about as close to a marriage as he would ever get, and just thinking about it once would plaster a smile on his face for the following fifteen minutes. His cheeks hurt.

Louis’ clothes were of royal design, and took a ridiculous amount of time to put on. They were complex and intricate in order and layer, not to mention heavy as shit and pretty stuffy, but he couldn’t complain. There were only a few times in the day that he wished he could just wear a white dress, but one look in the mirror, and everything would look so absolutely perfect that he gave up the internal whines.

The Princess knew his family was already in the grand ballroom that the coronation would shortly be held in, and it got his blood pumping every time he suddenly remembered that they were here. You should have been there for the phone conversation, it had been tremendously hilarious. He’d told everyone to gather around the gossip table masked as the kitchen one, and suggested Joan put the call on speaker, and then he’d delivered the news. If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought the group of wolves on the other line were being brutally murdered upon hearing the confession—that’s how primal their excitement was.

Unfortunately, Louis hadn’t been able to see them when they’d arrived because he wasn’t allowed to. The last few days had been him and Harry locked up together in his quarters, loving and mating each other from sunrise to sunset, and mentally preparing each other for the coronation day.

Which as he mentioned earlier, was indeed today, and the time had come.

“Princess Louis,” the woman who’d been helping him all day announced, checking her phone and holding out her hand when she confirmed it was time. “Do you remember what you’re going to do?” she asked, willing to shove any last tips and reminders that the Princess needed in his ear before he’d be on his own.

“Walk slow, get announced, walk up beside the throne, get my hand kissed by the Elder, turn over my right shoulder, go sit in the appointed seat in the back of the stage thing, wait for Harry to come out, sit absolutely still during his inauguration, then come back when I’m addressed again? To sit in the smaller throne on Harry’s left?” he clarified in a rush as they swept down the hall to the large ballroom where a room of the richest and most noble wolves of their kind were sitting to watch the event. Then of course there’s Niall and his family in there as well - the lovable runts of the audience.

“Yup, you pretty much got it. Just smile and look pretty,” she said, giving him a once over and grinning to herself. “Shouldn’t be too hard for you.”   

“Thanks, Lou. No thanks to you,” he praised, giving the thin woman the most grateful smile he could conjure under all the nerves. She’d helped him with everything all day long, and without her, he would be hopelessly confused. At least he had an outline now, and he was always going to leave a place for Lou Teasdale in his heart.

Louis squeezed his eyes closed as he walked through the double doors, opening them to a brightly lit and crowded ballroom, walking toward the stage and resisting the urge to flinch when everyone stood from their seats in his presence.

“Long live the Queen!” he clearly heard shouted by the room of wolves, keeping his poker face professional and strutting toward the Elder, Theodore. Once before him, the Elder dropped to his knees and kissed Louis’ hand, guiding him to the side of the stage to sit while he waited for his turn.

The Elder faced the crowd with squinted eyes and a royal expression of importance, waiting patiently until every peep of noise had stopped in anticipation before he made the announcement. When he had every pair of eyes on him alone, he drew all of his breath into his diaphragm to shoot his voice out like a megaphone.

“Today, we here gather as one to witness the crowning of our new Lord and King, Prince Harry Styles, son of Desmond Styles, our Lord and King. May he grace us now so that we may begin the ceremony,” he said, holding an arm out to the side doors that swung open for Harry to enter from.

Louis’ mouth metaphorically dropped open because he couldn’t let it actually happen, but _shit_ he wanted to. Harry always looked royal to Louis’ eyes, but this was on a whole different level than ever before. The Alpha was dressed head to toe in gowns and capes, and he had an undeniable air of supremacy surrounding his aura, and Louis was going to sell his soul for the Alpha’s knot tonight no matter what.

Harry almost seemed to float to the stage, facing the people and humbly bowing his head in servitude to the country, not to mention world, and the wolves responded in kind. “We save the King!” they cried, clapping as the trumpets sounded, and quieting down when Harry turned and floated all the way to his throne.

Desmond was sitting on a luxurious chair on the other side of the stage from Louis, but the Omega could see the fierce pride in his eyes as he watched his son begin to take his place as ruler. He still wore the cape of the King, and was in possession of the crown and staff, but he looked antsy to rid himself of the weight they came with.

Harry spared no glances to either Louis or his Father, keeping his vigilant focus on his wolves and the Elder as he began the  processes of the coronation.

“Alphas and their Omegas, Omegas and their Alphas, I here present unto you Harry, your undoubted King. Wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?” he asked in a confusing sentence structure, but the crowd seemed to understand.

“We save King Harry!” they shouted in unison, breaking out into short-lived acclamation with their promise.

Louis couldn’t make too much movement, but nothing would have been able to stop him from smiling to himself. Harry was positively glowing with gratuitous pride, and hearing the people validate their loyalty to him was more than Louis could handle with a straight face.

The Elder waited for the crowd to silence once again, and then continued: “Harry, our blessed King of Wolves, is your Majesty willing to take the Oath?” Theodore asked, whipping out a scroll and expertly letting it roll open to exactly where it needed to be before slapping it down on a little table.

“Aye,” Harry responded with fearless confidence behind his words, apparently arousing his Omega…at least more than he intended to. “I am willing.”

“Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern this blood in which our brothers and sisters carry with the just fairness that we require?” Theodore resumed, with only a little bit mirth behind his tone in regards to Desmond breaking that essential oath.

“Aye. I solemnly promise to do so,” Harry swore without missing a beat, earning a more hushed round of applause from the nobles and aristocrats in the room.

“Will you to the best of your unchallenged sovereignty cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?” Theodore asked, again confounding the shit out of Louis because he didn’t speak olde English.

“Aye, I shall see thus done,” Harry responded.

“Do you swear before us that thou shant lead us astray, instead serve as our untarnishable light of guidance? Will you reward the good, and punish the wicked, purge the corrupt, and protect the weak?” the Elder asked, already taking in another breath to continue because he knew what Harry would say.

“Aye.”

“Do you promise on your throne these deeds to be done?” he asked, again already reaching for the royal sword because there were no doubts from any party here.

“All this I promise to do,” Harry assured, standing as he was brought the sword of which he would pledge his undying allegiance with.

The sword was carefully and horizontally presented to Harry from the kneeling Elder, and Harry lifted it from Theodore’s palms to walk forward until he was stood on the royal stone that was built into that section of the stage. Bit confusing to explain, but it was a stone oval that had supported the weight of every King before him, and it was simply taken out and rolled back into storage after a coronation. It was held up to fill the gap of the hole in the stage, and Harry walked slowly to savor the moment of standing on the ancient stone of promise.

Harry dropped down to one knee and rested the sword’s tip on the stone, gripping the hilt so hard his knuckles were white. The other hand was in a fist against his chest, and when he had taken enough calming breaths, he looked up to meet the adoring faces of his people and make his vows. “With this sword, I would spill my blood for my people. To uphold my country, my wolves, Alphas and Omegas alike, with this, I would let myself be slain,” he declared, stealing the tears out of the audience’s eyes.

Harry gripped the side of the sword and dragged his hand across it, his Omega almost gasping in shock at the unnecessary pledge. Well in Louis’ opinion…but ehh, what does he know? Harry then stood to his full height and squeezed his fist with an outstretched arm, making it very obvious that he was spilling his blood onto the stone.

When the first drop hit the rock, Theodore threw his arms up in the air and shouted, “Long live the King!” Everyone joined in on the second one, and the room repeated it five times until Harry turned over his right shoulder and walked back to his throne, a worker of the castle presenting him with a white bandage to tie around his hand.

The Alpha took the cloth with a smile, but waited to use it because he still had stuff to do with his blood, as weird as that sounds. Theodore carried the scroll on the little table over to the new King, handing him an olde quill to scrawl his signature. The Alpha beautifully inscribed his name under his forefathers, and wiped the blood from his palm with his thumb to stamp it down next to his name. Once the print was etched into the old parchment, Theodore smiled and took everything back, handing the scroll off to the scrollkeeper to put back in its hiding place.

“All rise,” the Elder bellowed, every wolf in the room standing to attention. Desmond walked to stand beside the throne, getting his royal cape gingerly pushed off his shoulders and dropped onto Harry’s instead. The old King shared a passing glance with his son to convey his pride, and he handed his staff to Theodore and turned to face the crowd.

The Elder took the staff and presented it to the people, facing the side stage to be heard by all as he spoke. “Receive the Rod of equity and mercy. Be so merciful that you be not too remiss, so execute justice that you forget not mercy. Punish the wicked, the corrupt, protect and cherish the just, and lead your wolves in the way wherein they should go,” he recited as he handed the staff off to Harry with a bow, and backed up to give everyone view.

“I swear,” Harry pledged, hitting the end of the staff against the floor once with a mighty crack, somehow solidifying his words more than his blood on paper.

“We save the King!” the crowed cheered, many of whom were desperately trying to soundlessly blow their noses into their tissues.

The Elder walked around the back of the throne to stand behind Desmond, slowly removing the crown from his head and climbing a little unseen ladder to hold it above Harry’s as he spoke the last words he would need to for the wolves to have a new King. “O King—the crown of the worthy. Bless we beseech thee this Crown, and so sanctify thy servant Harry, upon whose head this day thou dost place it for a sign of royal Majesty, that may be filled by thine abundant loyalty with all princely virtues,” he spoke as he lowered the crown until it made a home on Harry’s head.

Harry closed his eyes under the weight of it, and took a deep breath before opening them again. Theodore stepped down and reemerged beside him, speaking to the people with his impressively loud voice for his age.

“King Harry! We save the King! Long live the King!” he said, repeating it five times with the audience as Harry stood in the midst of it, raising his staff and knocking it on the ground again.

Louis needed a bucket for his tears, and he joined the fierce clapping, rules be damned. He was an absolute mess, and definitely needed a five minute break to get his shit together, but he didn’t get that luxury. It was his turn now.

His heart skipped a beat when the servants of the castle lifted the Queen’s throne and set it next to Harry’s, and then his heart stopped completely when Theodore held his hands out to silence the room.

“We have a Queen!” the Elder declared needlessly, letting the consequent die down wash over before motioning Louis to him.

The Omega gulped and shakily stood from his seat, crossing the stage and accepting the hand that was offered to him. The Elder knew Louis didn’t have the process drilled into him like the children of the castle did, so he tightened his hand around the Omega’s arm to convey he was to remain standing.

And there Louis stood, the backs of his legs brushing his throne and laboured breathing whipping in and out of his nose. Harry looked over in secret sympathy and bored his eyes into the side of his mate’s face until the Omega couldn’t ignore it anymore and glanced over.

“I love you,” he mouthed to his bondmate, quietly chuckling because the Omega almost broke his face trying not to roll his eyes.

There were many things the Omega was working full-time at holding back. Screaming and puking were two of the bigger ones, but there wasn’t any time for that right now. He could do it later. He made a tiny jump when a cloak was dropped around his shoulders, but the heaviness of it almost grounded him in the exact way he needed.

He was gestured by Theodore to sit into his throne, and it will be difficult for Louis to ever forget the first time he sat in it. His eyes traveled to his family in the crowd, and he locked his tears away before their reddened and proud faces had the power to break him down completely.

Anna’s old crown was brought out on a fancy-looking pillow, and Louis hadn’t expected such a stereotypical thing to occur, but it made his fairytale that much more magical. The Elder took the crown in his hands and held it over Louis’ head, not giving quite the same amount of importance to Louis as he had Harry, but the Omega was _not_ complaining about that.

The Queen didn’t have much power in comparison to the King, rather the Queen just demanded respect for having the title. Louis would be a private advisor if anything, but he hadn’t needed to sign anything in _his_ blood, that’s for sure.

“I here crown Queen Louis, Queen of Wolves. May he serve our King and our species with the same values and ideals as our blessed King, and may his current pregnancy be of much splendor. May he represent grace and vitality as he bears this line a suitable heir, and many more thereafter. We save the Queen, long live the Queen!” he finished as he set the crown on Louis’ anxious head.

“We save the Queen! Long live the Queen!” the audience seconded, and Louis swore he heard his Mother’s shrill acclaim above and beyond everyone else in the room.

“We save our King and Queen!” the Elder intercepted, changing the chant of the wolves because that truly was the last thing to be said.

Harry sighed in relief and yanked his love up onto his feet, slamming his teeth into the Queen’s bondmark right in front of everyone, just as history has done in kind. He was careful not to knock any crowns off, and he chuckled into Louis’ neck when his Omega’s arousal skyrocketed.

The King pulled back and pressed his lips to his love’s, turning him around and gently nudging him in the right direction. All they had to do now was smile and wave as they were walked out the side doors that Harry popped out of, and then they were to be given two uninterrupted hours to do whatever they wanted.

Which was only one thing…

 

\---

 

After the two magnificently sensual hours, Louis was now busy socializing with all sorts of friends of Harry’s that he’d never met before. All of the official boring shit was out of the way, and the Alphas of the castle had put together an after-party for the royal couple that was actually worth a damn.

It was located in the top floor of the castle where nobody would find them if they didn’t know where to look. Well, maybe the loud music would give a clue, but in any case...

Among the company of the party was Louis’ family, for as long as they could stay awake, and so many repetitive words had been said that he’d had to run away before one more sappy "Congratulations" assaulted his ears.

“My parents went to sleep already,” Niall laughed when he noticed Louis walking around to expertly avoid his searching Mother.

“Oh! Hey, Niall,” Louis said with a grin, pulling the blonde in and squeezing him for all he was worth. “I can’t believe today actually fucking happened.”

“Yeah, it was pretty crazy,” Niall agreed, swirling his wine around in its glass like a snob.

“Niall, what are you doing? You don’t even lik—”

“Shh!” Niall hissed, looking around in embarrassment. “I’m in a castle, Louis. Of course I bloody like wine,” he argued, taking a sip of it to prove his claim and just _barely_ repressing the wince of distaste.

“Bloody?” Louis pointedly asked. “Is Zayn rubbing off on you?”

“Am I rubbing off on what?” the watchdog asked, appearing out of nowhere with a drunken Liam under his arm.

“Rubbing off on Niall,” Louis clarified with a nod of his head to the blonde.

“Oh, I’m rubbing off on you alright,” Zayn seductively slurred, grabbing the Omega by his arse and yanking him under his other arm. “Come on, kitten. I’m gonna tear you apart.”

Niall moaned and handed his wine off to Louis, throwing him an apologetic look as he was dragged out of the attic-like party environment. “Sorry, looks like we’re leaving early. Long live the Queen,” he said, quickly disappearing in the mass horde of people.

Louis rolled his eyes and left the glass on a random tray being carted around by a server. He knew Harry was probably talking and all that jazz, but he needed a breather from the madness, so he stepped out through the thick curtains on the wall to walk onto one of the patios that overlooked the grassy hills from the back of the castle. Depending on where you were in the castle, the view was either boringly mundane, or absolutely breathtaking. It was city one way, and endless grass the other, so Louis much preferred this one.

“I knew I’d find you out here,” his Alpha’s voice drawled behind him, eliciting the thousandth eye roll of the day.

“Congrats, King Detective. ‘Cuz you totally couldn’t just smell me or anything,” Louis sassed, happily twisting around to accept his mate’s embrace.

“And you smell delightful,” Harry praised, taking a long inhale of Louis’ neck and letting it out with a satisfied sigh. “How’s your tummy?” he asked, sneaking a hand down to pat it gently.

“Inhabited,” Louis replied, smiling at Harry’s consequent snort. Amusing Harry was one of the Omega’s favourite things to do, and it gave him great joy when he got to see the reaction.

Harry knelt to the ground and pushed Louis’ expensive overshirt up his torso, nuzzling and kissing the small bit of tummy he’d exposed. “Have you thought of a name?”

“Oh yeah, totally,” Louis said easily, gaining Harry’s immediate interest.

“What?” Harry asked curiously when Louis only smirked at him.

“Simba,” Louis deadpanned, following it with a cackle as he held onto the railing for support—he thought it was _that_ funny.

Harry had giggled too, and resumed pressing more kisses into his mate’s belly, tickling him with each and every one. “Are you calling me Mufasa?” he asked, trying his best to sound offended, but they both knew he wasn’t.

“Look at your hair,” Louis reasoned, picking up a curly lock and twisting it in his fingers. “Just call me Sarabi.”

Harry stood from his crouch and pulled his Omega into his chest, alternating between kissing Louis’ lips, cheeks, and neck. He couldn’t get enough of his beautiful Queen, and he never would. They had a pretty amazing future ahead of them, and neither could have ended up happier than they are right now.

“No, but I don’t know,” Louis said in a more serious manner, “I haven’t thought of one quite yet. Not Simba.”

“Aww, why not?” Harry argued, laughing at Louis’ incredulous expression. “We do live in a Disney fairytale.”

“Mmm,” Louis hummed thoughtfully, playing along with their banter and snaking his arms around the back of his King’s neck. “No…we have something so much better,” he said, stealing a passionate kiss from his mate, who only pulled away when he seriously needed to breathe.

“Better than a Disney fairytale?” Harry asked dubiously, staring into the royal blue, do with the pun what you will, of his Queen’s eyes and losing himself just as intensely as the first time he’d ever seen them.

“Mmhm,” Louis confirmed, resting his head on his Alpha’s chest and listening to his heartbeat as he watched the sun set over the hills of his castle. His real castle. Where he now lived. Because he was a Queen. With a King. “Much better than a Disney fairytale…our _own_.”

 

~~~

 

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here concludes another Jackson story. If you haven't read my other A/B/O, I'll go ahead and tell you to do that now if you want more.

**Author's Note:**

> wubwubnparmaham.tumblr.com


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